Update:
5.30pm – The incident aircraft continued its journey to Dublin at 5.25pm
An Aer Lingus flight has diverted to Shannon Airport this evening the second unscheduled landing for the airline today.
Flight EI-495 from Faro in Portugal to Dublin landed in Shannon shortly after 8.20 this evening after the crew reported possible issue with one of the jet’s hydraulic systems.
The Airbus A320-200 jet, with 102 passengers and a crew of six on board, was about 100 kilometres south of Cork when the crew made the decision not to continue to Dublin.
The flight diverted to Shannon instead and was met by emergency vehicles. Shortly before the flight was due to land, the pilot told controllers that the aircraft could be disabled on the runway after landing.
The flight landed safely at 8.22pm and was met by airport fire crews. They jet stopped on the runway for a time so that engineers could carry out an inspection of the aircraft.
The plane was able to taxi to the terminal where a further inspection was carried out. Engineers and fire crews confirmed that they jet had suffered some leakage of hydraulic fluid.
Earlier today, Aer Lingus flight EI-660 from Dublin to Vienna was forced to make an emergency landing in Frankfurt after an elderly passenger became ill on board.
The woman, who was reported to be unresponsive, was treated by a nurse and other passengers on board. On arrival in Frankfurt, she was removed to hospital for treatment.