An Aer Lingus flight from England to the United States diverted to Shannon Airport this afternoon after the crew reported an issue with one of the jet’s two engines.
Aer Lingus (UK) flight EG-935 departed Manchester shortly before 11.25am destined for Orlando, Florida. There were 304 passengers and crew on board the Airbus A330-300 jet.
About 90 minutes after departure, and after already passing through Irish airspace, the flight turned around over the North Atlantic and diverted to Shannon Airport. The flight was about 900 kilometres west of Shannon at the time.
The crew issued a Pan-pan radio call confirming they had a problem with one of the aircraft’s engines. A ‘Pan-pan’ indicates an ‘urgency’ on board but is not as serious as a ‘May-day’.
Air traffic controllers cleared the flight to turn around and alerted authorities at Shannon Airport to the unscheduled arrival while the airport’s fire and rescue service was alerted and placed on standby.
Shortly before landing, the flight crew confirmed to air traffic controllers that they would be landing with just one operating engine. It’s understood however that both engines were operating until shortly before landing but the crew confirmed they would be ‘dropping down to one engine’ on final approach.
The crew also confirmed they would be making an overweight landing and said they required an inspection of the undercarriage to be carried out after landing.
Airport fire crews were deployed to designated holding points adjacent to Shannon’s runway ahead of the jet’s arrival. The flight landed safely at 2.46pm and was pursued along the runway by emergency vehicles.
The jet exited the runway and stopped on a taxiway so that fire crews could check that the aircraft’s braking system hadn’t overheated in the emergency landing. Once it was confirmed that temperatures were within safe limits, the jet taxied to the terminal building.
The passengers were later deplaned however it’s not yet clear whether they will continue their journey this evening.
A comment is awaited from the airline.