A Ryanair flight from Shannon to Edinburgh was forced to divert to Cologne in Germany because the aircraft was unable to land at the Scottish airport because of high winds.
Flight FR-3598 took off from Shannon at 11.50pm on Sunday while Storm Isha swept across Ireland.
About 50 minutes later, the flight commenced the first of two attempts to land in Edinburgh but aborted both efforts because of the wind. The flight crew opted to divert to Cologne in Germany where it landed safely at around 2.20am Irish time.
The distance from Shannon to Edinburgh is around 510 kilometres while it’s approximately 900 kilometres from Edinburgh to Cologne.
When asked why the flight couldn’t land at another UK airport or return to Shannon, a Ryanair spokesperson said the decision to divert to Cologne was based on a number of factors and not on proximity alone.
Ryanair flights from Dublin and Seville (Spain) to Edinburgh, also diverted to Cologne earlier on the same evening.
When flight 3598 landed in Cologne, where it was grounded overnight, Ryanair was unable to secure accommodation for all those on board. It’s not clear however how many were left without accommodation.
The flight departed Cologne on Monday morning at 10.15 Irish time and arrived in Edinburgh at around 11.48am.
According to an airline spokesperson: “Due to Storm Isha, some flights to/from the UK and Ireland on Sun, 21 Jan/Mon, 22 Jan were disrupted, including this flight from Shannon to Edinburgh (21 Jan), which was forced to divert to Cologne where it was then delayed overnight.”
“Despite Ryanair’s efforts to arrange accommodation for passengers, availability was limited, and passengers were advised that they could also arrange individual accommodation/transport and that they could claim back expenses.
Ryanair sincerely apologises to all passengers affected by these storm-related disruptions, which were entirely beyond our control and impacted all airlines operating to/from the UK and Ireland on Sun, 21 Jan/Mon, 22 Jan,” the airline added.
Ryanair also said that the decision on what airport to divert to is typically based a combination of factors, including weather conditions, the airport’s capacity, and ATC capacity, rather than proximity alone.
The airline stated: “As Irish and UK airports were at capacity due to the high volume of diversions caused by Storm Isha, this flight was diverted to Cologne.”
However, soon after flight 3598 diverted to Cologne, a RyanairUK flight from Stansted to Edinburgh diverted to Shannon Airport. Flight RK9817 landed safely at the midwest airport around 15 minutes after the Shannon to Edinburgh touched down in Cologne.
Shannon handled a total of 15 diverted flights on Sunday when Storm Isha prevented them landing at Cork, Dublin and Edinburgh airports.
