Qantas pilots made an emergency landing in Azerbaijan after receiving an “intermittent fault indicator” in the cockpit, and engineers will inspect the Airbus A380 aircraft before it can continue its journey.

The QF1 Singapore-London flight “made a 180-degree turn” over the eastern European country of Georgia, and landed in the Azerbaijan capital, Baku, on Friday afternoon AEST, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.

A Qantas A380 was met by emergency services after diverting to Baku.  Craig Abraham

It is unclear what caused the fault – social media posts allege it was a fire alarm in the cargo hold, but Qantas has yet to confirm any specific fault. An airline source said, at this stage, it could have been a false alarm.

“Our flight from Singapore to London has made an unscheduled landing at Baku Airport in Azerbaijan after pilots received an intermittent fault indicator in the cockpit,” a Qantas spokesman said.

“Engineers will inspect the aircraft prior to continuing its journey.”

The flight landed safely and was met by emergency services on arrival, as is procedure.