Jet2 flight to Tenerife declares mid air emergency - plane diverts to Belfast
A JET2 flight from Edinburgh to Tenerife was forced to do a U-turn and land in Belfast due to a mid-air emergency.
Jet2: Flightpath of Tenerife-bound service diverted to Belfast
The plane took off from the Scottish capital at 9.10am as scheduled, and less than an hour into the flight a passenger required medical assistance. Pilots were forced to turn the Boeing 737 around as it flew over Northern Ireland. They then made an unexpected landing at Belfast International Airport.
The airline said the diversion was carried out because someone onboard needed "medical attention".
The firm did not give any further details about the nature of the incident.
Express.co.uk has contacted Jet2 for comment.
A spokeswoman for Jet2 said: Flight LS727 from Edinburgh to Tenerife has diverted to Belfast International due to a customer requiring medical attention."
The plane issued a Squawk7700 general emergency alert before making the sudden diversion, reports suggest.
CD aviation which tracks live aircraft emergencies wrote on Twitter: “Jet2 flight LS727 has successfully diverted to Belfast International Airport after making an emergency landing due to declaring a Squawk7700 general emergency while en route from Edinburgh to Tenerife.”
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The flight had been due to arrive in Tenerife at 2pm.
It is not known how many passengers were onboard or how many others were affected by the diversion.
A flight from Edinburgh to Tenerife takes around four hours and 45 mins.
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A direct flight from Edinburgh to Belfast last around 50 minutes.
Jet2 flies to 38 destinations from the Scottish capital.
They include popular European hotspots such as Budapest, Majorca and Venice.
The diversion comes just two days after a United Airlines jet approaching Heathrow Airport declared an emergency.
Pilots on the plane from Washington DC had to fly a holding pattern northwest of London.
They continued to do this for 20 minutes while airport officials dealt with a separate incident.
Eventually, the flight diverted to Gatwick as its fuel level was falling dangerously close to the minimum safe limit.
The aircraft safely landed shortly before 10.30am.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “For a matter of minutes one of the runways was out of service as an aircraft was towed from the taxiway.