EasyJet flight to Newcastle diverts back to Belfast after go-around

The Easy Jet flight took off from Belfast just after 10am on Friday morning on the short 35 minute journey over to Newcastle but was forced to turn around after two failed attempts at landing.

The plane, an Airbus A320, then climbed back up to cruising altitude and returned to Belfast.

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One passenger on board the flight told the Echo: “We were due to land in at Newcastle Airport but after two failed attempts landings, bouncing about on the runway on the first attempt, we are now back in Belfast where we originally flew from.

“The Easy Jet staff have been great but I have never felt anything like that in my life.”

Flight tracking service Flight Radar 24 shows how the flight turned back on itself to return to the Northern Irish capital.

The route Easy Jet flight EZY548 took on Friday, diverting all the way back to Belfast. (Image: FLIGHTRADAR24)

The flight, codenamed EZY548, eventually landed back into Belfast shortly after 11.30am.

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Passengers were transferred to another plane which left Northern Ireland at 2.30pm, arriving into Newcastle just before 3.10pm.

The airline has now apologised to customers for the inconvenience.

A spokesperson for Easy Jet said: “We can confirm that flight EZY548 from Belfast to Newcastle this morning returned to Belfast due to winds at Newcastle gusting outside the limits of the aircraft and the flight continued to Newcastle this afternoon once weather conditions improved.

"The safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is our highest priority and while this was outside of our control, we would like to apologise to customers for the delay caused as a result of the weather and thank them for their patience and understanding.”

It came as high winds hit the North East earlier on Friday (February 17) morning as Storm Otto arrived.

Bosses at Newcastle Airport said on Friday that they were preparing for a busy February half term with more than 100,000 passengers expected to pass through the terminal – a 50 per cent increase in demand on the same spell last year.

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