Jet2 Flight Fails to Land in Belfast, Declares Emergency

In the last 30 minutes, a Jet2 flight from Plovdiv has failed to land in Belfast following the weather from Storm Isha, resulting in an emergency broadcast & diversion to Manchester.

Jet2 Flight Fails to Land in Belfast, Declares Emergency & Diverts to Manchester…

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Jet2 flight EXS71Q is a routine scheduled flight between Plovdiv and Belfast, with the affected rotation being operated by G-JZHD.

As per data from Planespotters.net, G-JZHD is a 17.5 year old Boeing 737-800 that started out life with Air China back in August 2006.

By January 2015, the aircraft was handed back to lessor, and then sent on to the UK holiday airline in April of that same year.

Of the 737-800 variant, Jet2 has 89 of them in the fleet, of which 76 are in active service and 13 are currently parked, offering an average fleet age of 14.1 years.

EXS71Q departed Plovdiv at 1642 local time earlier today and proceeded in a westerly direction towards Belfast.

As Storm Isha was continuing to pile into the area, this resulted in some initial holds before an approach attempt, which subsequently failed.

Following an additional approach attempt, the crew decided to climb out of Belfast, and head to Manchester, another base for Jet2 instead.

Whilst this was happening, the crew onboard declared a low fuel emergency, requesting a priority arrival into the diversion airfield, where they landed safely at 1959 UK time.

Storm Isha continues to batter UK airspace at the moment, with all eyes on how much more disruption will be caused in the hours ahead.

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