A woman is recovering in hospital after she fell ill on board a transatlantic flight that diverted to Shannon Airport this afternoon.
ITA Airways flight AZ-608 departed Rome’s Fiumicino Airport at around 9.40am destined for JFK Airport in New York. There were 278 passengers and a crew of 13 on board.
At around 12.15pm, when the Airbus A330-900neo jet was about 180 kilometres off south coast, the crew advised air traffic controllers of their situation and began to route towards Shannon. The crew reported they had a female passenger on board who had fallen ill.
The flight crew later confirmed they would be making a heavy (overweight) landing. As a result, airport fire crews were alerted in accordance with standard precautionary procedure at Shannon for any aircraft that has dumped fuel or is expected to make an overweighting landing.
Airport authorities were advised of the unscheduled arrival while the National Ambulance Service was alerted and requested to dispatch resources to the airport.
The flight landed safely at 12.52pm and was pursued along the runway and to its parking stand by airport fire crews. Fire officers checked the jet’s undercarriage to ensure the braking system hadn’t overheated during the overweight landing.
The passenger was assessed at the airport before being transported to hospital for further treatment.
The flight continued its journey to New York at 2.18pm
