An easyJet flight to Edinburgh was forced to divert to Liverpool after a medical emergency on board.
Flight EZY312 took off from London’s Stansted Airport at 5.20pm on Sunday but was forced to interrupt its journey when a passenger needed urgent medical care as it flew over the Peak District.
Flight tracker RadarBox reported the plane sent an emergency alert and showed it making a sharp left to fly over Manchester before landing at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
Easyjet said in a statement: “We can confirm that flight EZY312 from London Stansted to Edinburgh this evening diverted to Liverpool due to a passenger onboard requiring urgent medical assistance.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority.”
Easyjet’s online flight checker said a second flight was organised to take passengers on to Edinburgh, where they landed at 8.20pm.
An update on the airline’s website stated: “We’re very sorry that your flight has now been diverted to Liverpool. This is due to a passenger incident. The disruption to your flight is outside of our control and is considered to be an extraordinary circumstance.”
Earlier this month, the airline blamed “unprecedented” air traffic control disruption for a large number of flight cancellations this summer.
The Independent revealed that the airline had cancelled 1,700 flights to and from its main base, London Gatwick, in July, August and September.
Around 180,000 passengers were affected, with 300,000 seats taken out of the summer market. The move was aimed to stabilise the operation. In the past few weeks, hundreds of easyJet flights have been cancelled to and from the Sussex airport, often late in the evening.