A plane full of North East holidaymakers has had to make a diversion - barely 20 minutes after taking off.

The Ryanair flight, codenamed FR4080, took off from Newcastle at around 8pm on Tuesday (August 30) and had been expected to travel to Alicante in Spain.

However, after a few minutes in the air, the Boeing 737 had to make an unexpected diversion and landed at London Stansted Airport at 8.22pm. 

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Now, the airline has confirmed why the plane had to divert as holidaymakers were left delayed.

A spokesperson for the airline said: "This flight from Newcastle to Alicante diverted to London Stansted after a passenger became ill on board.

"The crew called ahead to request medical assistance upon arrival, the aircraft landed normally, and the passenger disembarked and was met by medics before being transported to a nearby hospital.

"The aircraft continued to Alicante at 21.35 local.

"Ryanair apologises to all customers for this short delay."

This is not the first time a plane has been diverted from Newcastle this summer, delaying holidaymakers due to safety concerns.

In July, a Jet2 flight ferom Newcastle to Antalya in Turkey was forced to make a U-turn back to Newcastle after an emergency was declared in the air.

At the time, the3 airline confirmed the aircraft had landed safely and that the crew had reported a "minor" fault.

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