easyJet has explained why one of its aircraft made an emergency landing at Bristol Airport on Sunday (November 28) shortly after 4pm.
The plane was flying from the Channel Island of Jersey to Glasgow Airport, but had to make a 'priority' landing at Bristol Airport due to what the airline said was an issue with "cabin pressurisation".
easyJet said in a statement that the emergency landing was a "precautionary measure".
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The aircraft took off from Jersey at 3:11pm and was scheduled to land around an hour later in Glasgow before the diversion.
In a statement, the airline said: “easyJet can confirm that flight EZY9816 en route to Glasgow from Jersey on 28 November, requested a priority landing in to Bristol due to a fault with the cabin pressurisation system as a precautionary measure and in line with our procedures
“The aircraft landed safely and once at its stand all passengers disembarked normally.
"The safety of its passengers and crew is easyJet's highest priority.”
Bristol Airport said: "The external services were notified as per the emergency plan but no external services were deployed. The onsite RFFS (Rescue and Fire-fighting Service) responded to and managed the incident."
Bristol Live understands that the passengers made it to Glasgow Airport yesterday shortly after 9:15pm.
The cabin pressurisation system ensures that the cabin is filled with breathable air while the aircraft is flying above around 10,000, where the air is extremely thin.
Without cabin pressure, there is no breathable air in the cabin, meaning the aircraft cannot fly above a certain altitude and risks hypoxia and unconsciousness, even for the pilots.
If an aircraft loses cabin pressure suddenly while at altitude, pilots execute what is known as an "emergency descent" to get the plane down to a level with breathable air, before then finding the most suitable airfield at which to land.
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