A Ryanair flight on its way to Morocco circled in the air for almost an hour before landing back in Manchester after a technical issue that prevented it from leaving the UK was discovered. Flight RK1266 took off from Manchester Airport just after 4pm on Sunday, 16 March, on its way to Agadir , Morocco, but did it not make it far from the city when it started to circle multiple times. The Boeing 737 flew to Wigan where it then circled the air around the town as well as the Merseyside area down to St Helens about seven or eight times, before flying back to the airport and landing around 5pm, data from FlightRadar shows.
The plane, which was due to fly a three-and-a-half journey to the Moroccan city never left the UK in the hour it was in the air. Upon arrival back at Manchester Airport, the plane was met by fire crews on the runway. Passengers were offered a replacement aircraft after returning to Manchester, which landed in Agadir at 10.
30pm that evening. A spokesperson for Ryanair told The Independent : "This flight from Manchester to Agadir (Sun, 16 Mar) returned to Manchester shortly after take-off due to a minor technical issue. “The aircraft landed normally at Manchester Airport and passengers disembarked.
“To minimise disruption to affected passengers, we quickly arranged for a replacement aircraft to operate this flight, which departed to Agadir at 7.05pm local [time] that same day. “We sincerely apologise to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused.
" This.
