On August 28, a Ryanair flight operated by Malta Air between Thessaloniki and Stockholm suffered a bird strike on departure and decided to return to the Greek airport.
Incident: Ryanair Flight from Thessaloniki to Stockholm Suffers Bird Strike…
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9H-VUQ was the aircraft operating FR4690, having departed from the Greek airport at 1846 local time on August 28.
As per data from Planespotters.net, 9H-VUQ is 1.8 years old at the time of writing, having been delivered to Ryanair’s subsidiary Malta Air back in November 2021.
This aircraft is one of the 737 MAX 200 Gamechanger aircraft, which can seat 197 passengers in an all-economy setup, compared to the typical 189 in a 737-800NG.
Moments after departure, the aircraft struck a bird, which then prompted a hold to the west of Thessaloniki Airport.
From there, the decision was made not to continue on to Stockholm, with the aircraft landing back into Thessaloniki around 50 minutes after its initial departure safely, using Runway 10 for this.
The crew had the situation under control, with the flight not broadcasting the 7700 emergency squawk code at any point during this incident.
At this moment, it is unclear what the extent of the damage was caused on the Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Stockholm, but at the time of writing (29/8/23 @ 2050 UK time), the aircraft is still in the Greek airport.
All eyes will be on maintenance crews to get the aircraft in the air as quickly, but as safely as possible, once all repairs have been made.
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