A passenger flight from Dublin to the United States has turned around over the North Atlantic and diverted to Shannon Airport after the crew declared a medical emergency this morning.
American Airlines flight AA-209 had departed Dublin Airport at around 9.25am bound for Chicago in the U.S.
About 90 minutes into its journey, the crew contacted air traffic controllers in Ireland to advise them they had an ill passenger on board and wished to turn around. The crew confirmed they required to divert to Shannon Airport to seek medical assistance for the passenger.
The Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner jet landed safely at 12.24pm. Airport fire and rescue crews, who had been placed on standby as a precaution, accompanied the jet to the terminal where paramedics were waiting. Fire officers checked the aircraft’s braking system to ensure it hadn’t overheated during the emergency landing.
The patient was assessed on board by ambulance paramedics before being removed to University Hospital Limerick for further treatment. There is no further information available about the ill passenger.
The flight is expected to resume its journey in the next hour.
Meanwhile, at around 1.20pm, a flight from Vienna, Austria to Washington in the U.S. turned around south west of Ireland and diverted to Shannon.
Austrian Airlines flight OS-93 was about 350 kilometres off the Irish coast when the crew contacted air traffic controllers to advise them they had a navigation issue and needed to divert to Shannon. It’s understood that issues with the jet’s navigation system prevented the crew from continuing across the Atlantic.
There were 174 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 767-300(ER) jet. The flight landed safely at 2.15pm and was met by aircraft engineer who were waiting to investigate the issue. The flight crew did not declare an emergency.
