A British Airways flight to Belfast was forced to divert to Manchester for almost four hours after pilots declared an emergency on board.
Flight BA1410 from London Heathrow to Belfast touched down in Manchester on Saturday morning (26 July) following a “suspected technical issue” with the aircraft.
The Airbus A319 had departed London at around 8am before the pilot sent out an emergency squawk code around 30 minutes into the flight.
A squawk code 7770 is used on flights to indicate an emergency.
According to data from FlightAware, the Belfast-bound flight was an hour into the almost one and a half hour journey when it landed at Manchester Airport.
The aircraft circled for a short time before redirecting to the northern aviation hub.
Air Live reported that emergency services met the flight on landing.
At around 1pm, almost four hours after landing, passengers were boarded onto a different plane to continue the 35-minute flight to Belfast.
British Airways said that the aircraft diverted to Manchester as a “precaution” due to a “minor suspected technical issue”.
The airline added that customers were “looked after” during the delay while an aircraft was sent from Heathrow to continue the flight.
It’s not the first aircraft to be diverted due to a technical issue this week.
On Monday, a Tui flight landed on a burst tyre at East Midlands airport, causing a series of delays and diversions as the aircraft was unable to be immediately moved.
Flight BY7113 departed from Birmingham airport but was diverted mid-air after a punctured tyre was identified.
The plane landed at the Leicestershire terminal. All passengers were evacuated, but the aircraft remained on the runway.
Flights at East Midlands were temporarily prevented from taking off as a consequence of the incident, with some being diverted to nearby Birmingham airport.
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