Lufthansa A343 over Atlantic on Dec 23rd 2013, loss of cabin pressure

A Lufthansa Airbus A340-300, registration D-AIGL performing flight LH-500 (dep Dec 22nd) from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Rio de Janeiro,RJ (Brazil), was enroute over the Atlantic Ocean south of Canary Islands,CI (Spain) when the aircraft descended to FL110 due to the loss of cabin pressure. The aircraft subsequently set course to return to Frankfurt and finally diverted to Lisbon (Portugal) for a safe landing (about 3 hours prior to scheduled landing in Rio de Janeiro).

Sources said the aircraft went into ground mode enroute and disengaged the air conditioning systems causing the loss of cabin pressure.

An Airbus A321-200 registration D-AISR was dispatched to Lisbon and returned the passengers to Frankfurt departing Lisbon about 7 hours after landing.