Passengers jetting off for some Spanish sunshine saw their holiday plans come to a temporary halt this morning as their flight was forced to return to Manchester. Sun seekers would have already faced an early start for their flight out to Reus, in Catalonia, with Manchester Airport's current guidance for passengers to arrive three hours before departure amid ongoing staff shortages and queues.
It meant many passengers for this morning's (May 15) 6am TUI flight would have arrived at the airport at around 3am. But having made their way through check-in and security, passengers would have been looking forward to setting off and landing in Reus, where temperatures will hit 29C later this week.
However, while still above England the flight was forced to make a U-turn back to Terminal 2, when the aircraft was hit by a technical fault. It is understood that emergency services were on standby at Manchester Airport as a precautionary measure, ahead of the flight's return.
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Having returned back to Manchester safely, passengers were forced to wait for another aircraft to take them to Catalonia. A new flight was finally prepared and set off from Terminal 2 at 1.52pm, with passengers landing at 3.44pm UK time - a delay of seven-and-a-half hours.
A spokesperson for TUI told the Manchester Evening News : "We can confirm that flight TOM2772 to Reus returned to Manchester this morning due to a technical issue."
