An Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft, operated by Emirates, was diverted to in Accra’s Kotoka International Airport, on January 9, 2026 after a cockpit warning indicating possible smoke in the forward cargo hold.
The crew of the airplane, Flight EK261 from Dubai to São Paulo, chose to divert as a precaution before entering the South Atlantic, where diversion options would have been limited. The good news is that no visible smoke was reported in the passenger cabin.
The A380 is a very large and requires a specific runway length, pavement strength, and ground support. Accra is one of the few airports in West Africa capable of safely handling an aircraft of this size.
The aircraft landed safely in Accra around 4:30 pm local time, ground engineers conducted a technical inspection, and it was determined that the smoke warning was due to a system malfunction, not an actual fire.
Once the aircraft was cleared, it departed Accra in the evening and continued to Brazil, arriving six hours later than scheduled in Sao Paolo.
The aircraft’s arrival in Ghana was a rare sight and only the third time an Airbus A380 has landed at Kotoka International Airport. A special Emirates A380 visited in 2018 to showcase Ghana’s new terminal and a British Airways A380 made a technical stop in 2022.
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