A Ryanair plane travelling from London Stansted to Dublin Airport was forced to make a sudden U-turn mid-flight on Thursday.
The aircraft is understood to have put out an emergency signal near Manchester not long after take-off.
It departed Stansted at 7.30pm but subsequently returned to the London airport later on Thursday night.
Ryanair said there was a "minor technical issue" with the aircraft which meant it had to return to its departing destination.
A spokesperson said: "This flight from London Stansted to Dublin ([on] August 19) returned to London after take-off following a minor technical issue.
"Customers boarded a replacement aircraft to prevent further delays, and departed to Dublin shortly after. The aircraft was inspected by Ryanair engineers who cleared the aircraft to return to service."
The diversion was first reported by Airport Webcams, a site that monitors global aviation.
The account tweeted: "Ryanair #FR212 London/Stansted to Dublin (Boeing 737-800 EI-EVO) declared Pan Pan, squawked 7700 General Emergency & just returned to STN due to a defective autopilot.
"Issued with approach vectors into STN by Essex Radar."
Squawking alert code 7700 is used to notify air traffic control that the aircraft is declaring an emergency.
The flight, due to arrive in Dublin at 8.45pm, instead made a safe landing in Stansted some hours later.
One person travelling on the flight commented on social media: "First flight home since Covid and this happens."
Following the incident, a second Ryanair flight declared an emergency on Thursday due to a medical emergency on board.
The Airport Webcams Twitter account said on Thursday night: "INCIDENT: Ryanair #FR3153 Tenerife/South to East Midlands (Boeing 737-800 EI-EBM) squawked 7700 General Emergency over the English Channel & declared Mayday with ATC due to a medical emergency on board (via ATC). Just landed at EMA."
A Ryanair spokesperson confirmed the diversion, stating: "A crew member on this flight from Tenerife to East Midlands (19 Aug) became unwell and in line with procedures, the crew contacted ATC and the aircraft landed normally in East Midlands.
"The crew member was met by medical personnel and customers disembarked as normal.”
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