Boeing 737: Ryanair flight from Gran Canaria Airport to Manchester declares emergency as it raises 7700 squawk code - the second incident in one day

A Ryanair Boeing 737 flight from Gran Canaria Airport to Manchester declared an emergency on Monday night (13 May). FlightEmergency posted on X, formerly Twitter, at 11.20pm: “Ryanair flight RK2584. LPA- MAN. Squawking 7700 (emergency)”.

The plane squawking 7700 indicates a general emergency. 7700 is a squawk code that is reserved for emergency situations and immediately alerts Air Traffic Control (ATC) and other units that the aircraft squawking 7700 is in distress. It may be assigned by Air Traffic Control or the pilots may decide to enter it into their transponder themselves. 

A user responded to the post saying: “That lost a lot of altitude very quickly, -5500 FPM could indicate pressurisation issues.”. FlightEmergency said: “Indicates they’re diverting and want to get down quick, doesn’t mean pressurisation”.

Another user posted on X that the aircraft “just did a 850ft fly over/ go around @ Brest airfield” and it is “hard to tell if it’s a coverage issue or if the craft has landed”. Ryanair told NationalWorld that the flight diverted to Brest after a “passenger became ill on board”.

Ryanair said: “This flight from Gran Canaria to Manchester (13 May) diverted to Brest after a passenger became ill onboard. The crew called ahead for medical assistance and the passenger was disembarked for treatment upon arrival at Brest Airport, before this flight continued to Manchester.” The incident comes after another Ryanair flight was forced to divert due to a “minor technical issue” minutes after take-off from Glasgow Prestwick airport on Monday.

Flight FR655, operated on an 18-year-old Boeing 737-800, departed the airport around 8.45am bound for Malaga. The plane diverted to Dublin Airport and landed safely at around 10am. A Ryanair spokesperson confirmed that the flight diverted to Dublin due to "a minor technical issue with the aircraft". 

Ryanair said: There was no “emergency” – this flight from Glasgow to Malaga (13 May) diverted to Dublin due to a minor technical issue with the aircraft. To minimise disruption to passengers, Ryanair quickly arranged for another aircraft to operate this flight while engineers inspected the original aircraft, which arrived in Malaga this afternoon (13 May).”