Ryanair flight from UK airport declares mid-air emergency moments after take-off

The plane landed safely after diverting

The plane was destined for the holiday destination of Malta, a just over three-hour long journey, but made it no further than East Midlands Airport after being forced to divert.

The service was a Ryanair plane operated by Malta Air, a subsidiary of the low-cost airline, as flight FR5883 from Norwich Airport aboard a Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 with the Maltese registration 9H-VUV.

Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the aircraft take-off before circling multiple times around the airport before flying south-east and turning over Attleborough.

A screenshot of the route the plane took. Credit: Flightradar24.

The plane then headed for East Midlands Airport where it did more loops before landing after an hour and a half of flying at around 10am local time.

Around the 30 minutes into the flight, the crew squawked 7700, the international aviation code used to signal a general emergency.

As per The Mirror, Ryanair has since confirmed the diversion followed a minor bird strike.

A Ryanair spokesperson told the outlet: "A spokesperson said: “This flight from Norwich to Malta (8 Sept) diverted to East Midlands Airport following a minor bird strike shortly after take-off.

“This flight arrived in East Midlands Airport at 10:00 local time.”