Hundreds of passengers on a flight to the Canary Islands endured something of an ordeal after a passenger was taken ill almost as soon as the plane got off the ground.
The Tui flight from Luton Airport to Gran Canaria ended up being diverted to land in Bristol, with the package holiday firm apologising to other passengers for the long delays.
The Tui Boeing 757-200 - which if full would have had 221 passengers on board - left Luton early on Monday morning but with the plane just beginning to fly over the English Channel, the pilots made the decision to turn back when one of the passengers became ill.
The plane attempted to land at Luton Airport and, according to data from Flight Stats, the plane descended to almost land at Luton again, but pulled up and continued heading south towards its destination off the coast off West Africa.
The second attempt saw the plane reach the tip of Brittany in France, but again the plane turned back and this time, it did land in Bristol for a short time.
No details from Tui have been released about the condition of the passenger who was taken ill and whose illness had caused the diversion.
A third attempt to reach Gran Canaria then took place, with the plane departing Bristol and reaching the Canary Islands nearly six and three quarter hours after leaving Luton.
“We would like to apologise to customers onboard flight TOM5118 from Luton to Gran Canaria, which was diverted to Bristol today due to a customer on board requiring urgent medical assistance,” said a spokesperson for Tui.
“The aircraft has now arrived in Gran Canaria.
“We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is always our highest priority,” she added.
