A flight full of North East holidaymakers returning to Newcastle from Turkey was forced to divert mid-flight in the early hours of Monday (September 26) morning just an hour into the journey.

The Jet2 flight, codenamed LS652, took off from Dalaman Airport, Turkey at 11.17pm on Sunday evening headed for Newcastle, where it was due to land at 1.45am in the early hours of Monday.

But after just an hour and 20 minutes the plane was forced to divert to Sofia in Bulgaria.

UPDATED: Why Jet2 flight from Dalaman to Newcastle was diverted to Bulgaria

It is not currently clear why the flight had to make the additional stop.

Flight tracking service Flight Radar 24 shows that the plane took off heading North West out of Dalaman, heading towards the UK, but was forced to change direction and make an unexpected stop at Sofia Airport in Bulgaria.

The Northern Echo: The route the Jet2 Boeing 737 took out of Dalaman before diverting to Sofia, Bulgaria. Picture: FLIGHTRADAR24The route the Jet2 Boeing 737 took out of Dalaman before diverting to Sofia, Bulgaria. Picture: FLIGHTRADAR24 (Image: FLIGHTRADAR24)

The plane, a Boeing 737, eventually arrived back at Newcastle almost two hours later than planned at 3.36am on Monday.

The Northern Echo has contacted Jet2 to confirm why the plane was forced to divert.

It comes after a Jet2 flight on the reverse route from Newcastle to Dalaman was forced to turn around after it faced a technical issue after take-off earlier this month on September 1.

The September 1 flight was forced to circle over the North East for 40 minutes after taking off before returning to Newcastle Airport where passengers were transferred to another aircraft.

A TUI flight from the Greek island of Skiathos was also diverted shortly after taking off earlier this month when it required an additional fuel stop at Thessaloniki.

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