Ryanair UK: flight due to land at Birmingham Airport diverted to East Midlands for reasons 'beyond control' of airline

A Ryanair flight landing at Birmingham Airport after coming from Palma in Spain was forced to divert due to reasons "beyond the control" of the airline. The plane packed full of passengers had to land at East Midlands Airport instead, some 40 miles, diverted by air traffic control.

The Ryanair flight was due to land at Birmingham Airport on Friday 10 November at around 7:30pm FlightRadar data showed the plane landed later at East Midlands Airport in Castle Donington. According to BirminghamLive, there was a runway closure on Friday night due to essential safety maintenance works to carry out "rubber removal" on the runway tarmac.  

Airline bosses said disruption to passengers was minimised and the diversion was due to a runway closure at Birmingham Airport. A spokesperson for Ryanair told BirminghamLive: "This flight from Palma to Birmingham (10 Nov) diverted to East Midlands due to the runway closure at Birmingham Airport. To minimise disruption to passengers, Ryanair arranged alternative transport from East Midlands to Birmingham. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of this diversion which was beyond Ryanair's control."

A spokesperson for Birmingham Airport told NationalWorld: "A flight due into BHX at 1930 was delayed more than three-and-a half hours until after 2300. We are currently carrying out essential, safety-critical maintenance work on our runway and taxiways, which we do at night each November. With engineers and machinery on the runway, we were not able to receive the aircraft.”

Ryanair’s disrupted flight comes after the firm announced that its soaring ticket fares has helped the carrier net a record €2.18bn (£1.8bn) half-year profit. The carrier announced on Monday 6 November that its revenues rose by nearly a third to €8.6bn for the six months to 30 September on the back of a 24 per cent jump in ticket fares as the post-pandemic boom in demand for travel. The firm’s half-year earnings of €2.18bn were also up 59 per cent, breaking a prior record set last year.

The company said it is now planning to pay regular dividends to its shareholders for the first time ever. The airline has paid special dividends before but never committed to regular payouts.