The incident occured yesterday afternoon about an hour after flight EZY1877 from Manchester took off for the Spanish city of Bilbao shortly after 2.30pm. The flight was forced to turn around and land back in Manchester after a bird strike.
According to Manchester Evening News, fire crews met the plane after landing and all passengers were disembarked unharmed.
A replacement aircraft was arranged to take on the passenger’s journey to Spain, which usually takes just less than two hours. A “bird strike”, the reason for the swift landing, is described as a collision between a bird and an aircraft.
The flight map on flight tracking service Flightradar shows that the plane flew over Macclesfield before circling over the Peak District and then travelling north above Glossop before heading back to Manchester Airport.
An easyJet spokesperson said: “EasyJet can confirm that flight EZY1877 flying from Manchester to Bilbao returned from airborne due to a bird strike during take-off. The pilot returned to Manchester in line with our procedures and as a precaution only.
“All passengers disembarked normally and a replacement aircraft has been arranged to continue the journey to Bilbao. Whilst this is outside of our control, we would like to apologise for any inconvenience experienced and thank passengers for their patience and understanding.
“The safety of passengers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority”.
Manchester Airport has been approached by the Manchester Evening News for comment.
