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Ryanair was forced to divert a plane to the UK as dangerous winds from Storm Boelo swept across the country.
Flight FR2955 departed Dublin Airport at 10.19pm on Saturday and was originally en route to Newquay Cornwall but was diverted to Bristol – a journey which normally takes less than 90 minutes – due to poor weather conditions.
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft reaches its crossing altitude of 27,000 feet before initiating its descent towards Bristol Airport.
However, the conditions on the ground were reported to be “far from forgiving”, giving the pilot no choice but to abort the landing attempt.
Flight tracking site AirNav Radar shows the plane then flew nearly 1,000 miles from Bristol, crossed the English Channel, through France and into southern Spain.
It landed at Alicante-Elche Airport at 1.16am on Sunday, about three hours after departure from Dublin Airport.
“This flight from Alicante to Newquay Cornwall (October 24) has been diverted to Dublin due to high winds at Newquay Cornwall Airport,” a Ryanair spokesperson told The Independent.
“During this time, the passengers remained on board so the plane would leave as soon as a slot became available, but this flight then returned to Alicante due to the bad weather conditions.
“Passengers booked on this flight received communications via email, PUSH notifications and were also kept up-to-date by ground staff at Alicante Airport. Affected passengers were informed of their options, provided with overnight accommodation and re-booked on the next available flight.”
Flight FR2955 was not the only journey disrupted by Storm Boleo, which battered the UK with gusts of up to 84mph over the weekend. On Sunday, dozens of flights were canceled from Heathrow and Gatwick, the UK’s busiest airports. This includes:
- British Airways BA1438 in Edinburgh
- British Airways BA304 to Paris CDG
- British Airways BA562 to Rome
- British Airways BA1320 Heathrow to Aberdeen
- LoganAir LM676 Heathrow to Isle of Man
- Riyadh Air RX9402 Heathrow to Gassim
- Emirates EK064 Heathrow to Dubai
- Easyjet EJU8015 Gatwick to Amsterdam
- Easyjet EZU6427 Gatwick to Jersey
- Lufthansa LH901 Gatwick to Frankfurt
- AirFrance AF1681 Gatwick to Paris CDG
- Aer Lingus I157 Gatwick to Dublin.
- Vueling VY7821 Gatwick to Barcelona
Major roads in Scotland were closed on Sunday after fallen trees and strong winds, while some sections of its railways were forced to close.
A Met Office amber weather warning for wind remains in place for Scotland much of northern England until 21:00 on Monday – which was activated at 21:00 on Saturday.
The storm developed just hours after the first named storm of the season – Storm Austen – exited the southwest.
