A Jet2 holiday flight to Gran Canaria was forced to turn around and return to Manchester this evening.
The Boeing 757-200 took off from Manchester Airport at 6.41pm but a few minutes into the flight the captain decided to abort the trip and instead flew west over Wales where it maintained a holding pattern before returning to Manchester.
Flight LS781 landed back at Manchester Airport at just before 9pm.
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The jet cruised at around 16,000ft over the west coast of Wales before returning to Manchester, more than two hours after it had taken off.
It is standard procedure for aircraft to burn fuel to achieve the correct weight before any landing.
Responding to concern from plane-spotters on Twitter, the airline reported that the plane had to return 'due to unforeseen operational reasons'.
When the M.E.N. asked the airline for a comment, a spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that flight LS781 followed standard procedure and returned to Manchester Airport after the crew reported a technical indication."
The spokeswoman confirmed that customers would be flown to Gran Canaria on a replacement aircraft.
Last week the M.E.N. reported Ryanair flight FR4051 from Faro to Manchester carried out an emergency landing in Manchester due to a medical emergency on board.
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