It made a number of attempts to land in Scotland first
A Ryanair for Scotland was forced to land in Manchester(Image: MEN MEDIA)
A Ryanair flight made an emergency landing in Manchester after coming within six minutes of ‘running out of fuel’.
Passengers were faced with the unexpected drama after the flight made multiple unsuccessful attempts to land in Scotland.
The flight from Pisa, in Italy, last Friday (October 3) was supposed to land at Prestwick Airport, in Ayrshire.
It made a number of unsuccessful attempts to land both in Prestwick and Edinburgh airports while Scotland was battered by fierce winds during Storm Amy.
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The flight went on to issue a ‘fuel Mayday’ before it was forced to make an emergency landing at Manchester Airport, the Express reports.
As it arrived almost two hours later, the plane only had 220kg of fuel left in its tank, which was enough for five or six minutes of flying.
An investigation has now been launched. The flight was being operated by Malta Air on behalf of Ryanair.
A Ryanair flight was forced to make an emergency landing(Image: PA)
It was forced to make an emergency landing in Manchester after the cockpit crew issued a 7700 squawk code – the alert for a general emergency.
Passenger Alexander Marchi said the chaos started before the flight had taken off from Pisa, as protestors managed to storm the tarmac amid a strike.
He told Ayr Advertiser: “After leaving late from Pisa because of a general strike and protesters invading the tarmac at the airport we were worried that we wouldn’t get to Prestwick before the storm hit.
“Everything was fine until we started our descent. The plane was circling a few times before trying the first time but pulling up almost immediately.
“We were told we would try one more time or we’d have to go to Manchester. The second time it was a very bumpy ride and we almost reached the tarmac, but at the last minute we pulled up very sharply.
“We realised how bad things had been after seeing the images after finally landing at Manchester with almost no fuel. There was a lot of relief. People were wanting to get off and definitely were not up for flying any time soon.”
A Ryanair spokesman said: “Ryanair reported this to the relevant authorities on Friday (October 3).
“As this is now subject of an ongoing investigation, which we are cooperating fully with, we are unable to comment.”