Tuesday’s easyJet flight from London Gatwick to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt had made excellent progress in the first hour. But while it was approaching Augsburg in southern Germany, the pilots of the Airbus A320 declared they were diverting to Munich because of a “passenger welfare issue”. I do not know the details, but I hope the traveller in question is now in good shape.
The plane remained on the ground for 90 minutes – which by the standards of such incidents is speedy. By the time it reached the Egyptian airport, the sun had long set; passengers were two hours behind schedule. The inbound flight was commensurately delayed, and there will be some tired passengers – and airline crew – who were deprived of some well-deserved sleep after the early hours arrival in the UK.
By recent standards they were relatively fortunate. Last month British Airways passengers from the Bahamas to London lost half a day after being diverted not once but twice along the way. Flight BA252 began its overnight journey from Nassau to London Heathrow, which normally takes eight hours, but diverted to Gander in Newfoundland, Canada, due to a passenger falling ill.
There followed something of a flightpath that emulated the protracted transatlantic journeys that preceded the jet age. The Boeing 777 continued its eastbound journey, but with the crew approaching the limits of their duty hours the plane diverted for a second time – to Keflavik in Iceland. A fresh crew was flown up from the UK on a special flight, and nursed the plane and passengers back to Heathrow. The plane arrived 11 hours behind schedule.
If someone falls ill on an aircraft, naturally the captain will make a decision in the best interests of the poorly passenger. They can appeal for any medically trained people on the plane to help out, and also to advise on whether the plane should land as soon as possible.
As with all things to do with aviation, an abundance of caution will be applied – and, if deemed necessary, the plane will divert to a location where good medical help is immediately available. Places such as Gander are well-equipped to deal with medical emergencies.
The cost to the airline is irrelevant when set against the survival of a passenger. But the long and winding flightpath from the Bahamas to London will have cost British Airways somewhere north of £100,000 due to elements such as operating the special flight and welfare costs for delayed passengers. And soon, I predict, carriers will be more challenging about passengers’ fitness to fly.
Medical diversions are becoming more frequent, which I put down to three reasons.
The first is simple demographics. People are thankfully living longer and deciding to travel by air in their eighties and nineties. The older the passenger, the greater the risk of inflight complications.
Next, average aircraft size is increasing over time. The more people on board, the higher the risk that one of them will need medical attention. Between London and New York, to reduce the risk of a medical diversion you should travel on a JetBlue narrow-bodied plane rather than a big Boeing 777 or Airbus A350 belonging to British Airways or Virgin Atlantic.
The third factor is flight length: ultra-long-haul routes such as Hong Kong-London are becoming more common. The longer the flight, the more scope for the stresses of flying to afflict one of the passengers on board.
Airlines are not going to shorten their routes or shrink their planes. So the obvious target is older passengers. Many will see this as unfair discrimination: plenty of diversions involve much younger passengers, and a fair number of octogenarians are in excellent shape. But I predict that before long, anyone aged 80 or above will need to complete a medical questionnaire before being allowed on board a flight.
