Ryanair: Flight from Edinburgh to Bournemouth completes several loops before diverting to Birmingham Airport

A Ryanair flight bound from Edinburgh to Bournemouth Airport was forced to divert from landing yesterday morning (Monday 29 January). The aircraft completed several loops around north Poole, Bournemouth and the New Forest at around 9am before then choosing to head north and land at Birmingham Airport.

According to Flight Radar, the 737 jet eventually took off and landed again at Bournemouth Airport at around 11.30am. Bournemouth Airport told the Daily Echo that fog is the reason for the diversion as it was seen across Bournemouth for much of yesterday morning. 

On the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, a passenger on board the flight asked Ryanair for more information. Yvonne Malcolm wrote: “@Ryanair Passengers diverted to Birmingham on Edinburgh to Bournemouth flight are standing outside costa waiting for some updates. Any help?”.

It comes as Ryanair told NationalWorld it is “increasing” the number of its engineers working with Boeing to “improve quality control” after the Alaska Airlines blowout incident. Ryanair currently operates Boeing’s 737 MAX 8 aircraft and in May last year it announced it had ordered 300 new Boeing 737-MAX-10 aircraft for delivery between 2027 to 2033. 

On 5 January the plug covering an unused exit door blew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane shortly after take off over Oregon. Passengers had to cling on and it reportedly caused a T-shirt to tear off from a child’s back. The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) subsequently ordered the grounding of the affected fleet of Boeing Max 9 planes, however both Alaska and United Airlines have brought the fleet back to service.

On yesterday’s incident, Ryanair said: “This flight from Edinburgh to Bournemouth (29 Jan) diverted to Birmingham due to heavy fog at Bournemouth Airport. To minimise disruption to passengers, alternative transport from Birmingham to Bournemouth was quickly arranged. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused to passengers as a result of this weather-related diversion, which was entirely beyond Ryanair’s control.”