Ryanair flight issues ‘Mayday’ call in UK emergency landing as flight ‘running out of fuel’

An investigation has been launched after a Ryanair flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Manchester after it nearly ran out of fuel while travelling to the UK

A Ryanair flight had to make an emergency landing after coming within six minutes of “running out of fuel”. An inquiry has been initiated following the incident on the flight, which was operated by Malta Air on behalf of Ryanair.

The flight, travelling from the Italian city of Pisa to Prestwick Airport in Glasgow on October 3, issued a “fuel Mayday”. The plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Manchester after the cockpit crew issued a 7700 squark code – the signal for a general emergency.

Before this, it had made several unsuccessful attempts to land at both Prestwick and Edinburgh airports. Nearly two hours later, it safely landed in Manchester.

Upon landing, the aircraft only had 220kg of fuel remaining in its tank – just enough for five or six minutes of flight, reports the Express.

Passenger Alexander Marchi recounted that the chaos began even before they took off from Pisa, as protestors managed to invade the tarmac during a strike.

He told the 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 spokesperson for Ryanair stated: “Ryanair reported this to the relevant authorities on Friday (3 Oct). As this is now subject of an ongoing investigation, which we are cooperating fully with, we are unable to comment.”