Aer Lingus flight makes emergency landing at UK airport
The plane had departed from Barbados just before 7.30pm GMT on Sunday
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An Aer Lingus plane was met with emergency services on the runway after it came into land at Manchester after a “technical issue” was reported.
Flight EI030 departed Bridgetown, Barbados, just before 7.30pm GMT on Sunday for an eight-hour overnight flight to Manchester.
An Aer Lingus spokesperson told The Independent that the plane experienced a “technical issue” on Monday morning.
The airline said the "aircraft was met by emergency services as a precaution and passengers have safely disembarked" just before 8am.
A video caught on the “Think Planes” YouTube livestream shows fire engines and emergency vehicles driving onto the runway as the Aer Lingus plane safely came into land.
A Manchester airport spokesperson added to The Independent that the technical issue did not affect passenger safety.
Any non-standard landing is treated as an emergency, meaning flights are able to jump the landing queue and touchdown on the asphalt, where the plane is met by emergency services as a precaution.
The plane was immediately assessed on the airfield rather than taxiing to the stand, meaning passengers disembarked the plane before it reached the gate.
The incident comes after Aer Lingus revealed it is considering closing its Manchester hub, which currently operates routes to Barbados, New York JFK and Orlando out of Terminal 2.
Trade union Unite says this has put over 200 workers at risk, including 150 cabin crew who the union represent.
The airline said the Manchester long-haul operating margin performance “significantly lags” behind that of Aer Lingus’ Irish long-haul operating margin.
The news came amid a pay dispute between workers and the airline, which saw cabin crew walk out over several days of strike action at Manchester airport in October.
Read more: Aer Lingus faces another strike – this time by Manchester cabin crew
