Storm Isha: Flight chaos as 'danger to life' weather warning issued - with Ryanair flights to UK diverted to Europe

Storm Isha has wreaked havoc on flights coming to and from the UK as forecasters issue “danger to life warnings”. Yesterday (Sunday 21 January) strong winds and rain hit parts of the country leading to travel chaos. 

Air traffic control restrictions were put in place yesterday with several flights cancelled. British Airways confirmed it has had to “make schedule adjustments due to the adverse weather conditions across the UK and Europe caused by Storm Isha.”

National Air Traffic Services (Nats) told the PA news agency: “Due to adverse weather conditions across the UK, temporary air traffic restrictions are in place. Restrictions of this sort are only every applied to maintain safety. Our teams are working closely with airports and airlines to minimise disruption. Passengers should check the status of their flight with their airline.”

Several flights were diverted, with one Ryanair route from Manchester to Dublin diverted to Paris. On X, formerly known as Twitter, one user wrote at 10pm last night: “My Ma and Uncle are on this flight - reattempting to head for Dublin in the next few minutes as winds apparently have turned and are now “more favourable for landing” if it doesn’t work out they’ll redirect to Cologne”. At midnight last night the user added: “Update: they’ve finally landed safely in Dublin”. 

Dublin Airport said airlines cancelled 148 flights on Sunday with a further 35 diverted to other airports and 27 "go-arounds". Another Ryanair flight last night from Lanzarote to Dublin was diverted to Bordeaux according to FlightRadar who posted the information on X. One user responded: “Nightmare”. 

A flight travelling from Sharm El Sheikh to Glasgow also declared an emergency yesterday due to Storm Isha. A spokesperson for Glasgow Airport said the TUI flight was “diverted to Manchester due to current weather conditions”. They added: “This is happening across many UK airports due to Storm Isha.”

A number of Edinburgh-bound flights were forced to divert to Germany's Cologne Bonn Airport - over 550 miles away. A total of 10 flights bound for Glasgow Airport diverted to airports including Glasgow Prestwick, Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool and London Stansted on Sunday. 

This morning (Monday 22 January) a rare red warning came into effect for Scotland from 1am to 5am with alerts that some areas could see wind speeds of 100mph causing a “danger to life”. The Met Office is warning people not to go outside and to shelter in place as the storm brings life-threatening winds with flying debris, large waves and beach material being thrown onto coastal roads, sea fronts and homes. There could be damage to buildings and homes, with roofs blown off and power lines brought down, as well as power cuts affecting other services, such as mobile phone coverage.

The warning covers Thurso and Wick to the north, Fraserburgh and Peterhead to the east and goes as far west as Cromarty and Nairn. Amber warnings for wind are covering most of Britain, aside from London and East Anglia where a yellow warning is in place.