A RYANAIR pilot diverted his aircraft from Shannon airport to Cork airport last Saturday night following three unsuccessful attempts to land at Shannon.
A spokeswoman for Ryanair said the pilot had been unable to land because of adverse weather conditions. However, the Shannon Airport Authority said the airport was operating normally at the time.
Flight FR7253 left Alicante at 9.50pm last Saturday and was due to land in Shannon at 23.50pm. However, after three attempts at landing the aircraft, the pilot announced he was diverting to Cork. Several passengers left the flight at Cork, but those who remained on-board were flown back to Shannon.
A spokeswoman for Ryanair said the flight landed in Shannon shortly before 2am and that this landing and the earlier landing in Cork were both completed safely.
However a passenger on board who contacted The Irish Timessaid the pilot said he had been unable to land on the first two occasions because of problems with high cross winds and some lights not operating on the runway. Following the third attempt the pilot said another aircraft had crossed his path on the runway, the passenger said.
The Ryanair spokeswoman said the reason the pilot did not land in Shannon and instead flew to Cork was because of adverse weather conditions.
However the airport authority said no other aircraft had difficulty landing and that another Ryanair flight landed just minutes before.
“We were operating as normal on Saturday night. The airport was not closed at any time and no other flight was unable to land,” a spokeswoman said.
She added that there had been no report of a “near miss” with another aircraft and that there had been no “unsafe activity” involving another flight at that time or any time on Saturday.
