A flight full of holidaymakers returning to the North East from Greece was diverted mid-flight yesterday less than an hour into its journey.

The TUI flight, codenamed TOM1311, took off from the Greek island of Skiathos at 1.46pm local time but was diverted to Thessaloniki, Greece, after just 40 minutes to make an 'additional fuel stop'

Flight tracking service Flightradar24 shows how the plane flew North after departure and landed at Thessaloniki soon after.

Read more: Watch as bus depot goes up in flames sending plumes of smoke over A1

The plane, a Boeing 737, then took off again at 3.06pm to continue its journey to Newcastle International Airport.

The Northern Echo: A map showing the route North the plane took after take off. Picture: FLIGHTRADAR24A map showing the route North the plane took after take off. Picture: FLIGHTRADAR24 (Image: FLIGHTRADAR24)

A TUI spokesperson told The Northern Echo: "We can confirm that flight TOM1311 from Skiathos to Newcastle was briefly diverted into Thessaloniki yesterday as the aircraft required an additional fuel stop.

"The aircraft departed shortly after, and customers landed safely in Newcastle yesterday afternoon."

TUI says the refuelling stop was due to what it describes as a "performance issue" in Skiathos, where The Northern Echo understands the plane was fuelled before take-off.

It comes after two flights were diverted after take-off from Newcastle Airport in the last few weeks.

To get more stories direct to your email basket go here

On September 1 a Jet2 flight from Newcastle to Dalaman was forced to turn around after the crew reported a technical problem shortly after take-off.

The passengers were then moved to a different aircraft for their journey.

Meanwhile, a RyanAir flight from Newcastle to Alicante was also diverted mid-flight to Stanstead on August 30 when a passenger became ill on board.

Read next:

If you want to read more great stories, why not subscribe to your Northern Echo for as little as £1.25 a week. Click here