A veteran British Airways captain who was supposed to be operating a flight from Cairo to London Heathrow has collapsed in a crew hotel and subsequently died. The pilot suffered a heart attack.

First, the pilot is said to have noticed in his room that something was wrong with him. On his own, he managed to go to the foyer of the accommodation and ask for help there. At this point he is said to have already had a cardiac arrest and collapsed as a result.

The captain's colleagues who were present are said to have carried out immediate first aid and resuscitation measures. Unfortunately, all efforts were in vain because the BA veteran passed away. The emergency doctor who arrived could only determine the death of the pilot.

An unnamed BA employee spoke to the British newspaper "Sun" critical of the company's practice of increasingly putting older pilots, who are actually already retired, back into the cockpit. The carrier should try to counteract the acute shortage of staff. The source is also quoted verbatim as follows: “That shook BA. It's unimaginable if he had a heart attack at 30.000 feet."

The BA captain, who died in Cairo, was not flown back to the UK on the Airbus A321 he was supposed to have commanded. The reason should also be that there was not enough space to transport his coffin. There was also the temporary problem that the crew was not complete due to the death. For this reason, another crew member was flown in with a Boeing 787. On the return flight, the deceased flew his last flight home. Unfortunately in the hold in his coffin.

British Airways is said to have immediately informed the relatives of the death. Publicly, the carrier made the following statement: "Our thoughts are with the friends and family of our colleague at this very sad time."