Germanwings plane diverted from Venice to Stuttgart due to suspected oil loss

The airline said it was a 'standard safety procedure'

A Germanwings flight to Venice has been diverted to Stuttgart after the Airbus A319 aircraft appeared to be losing oil (Getty)

A Germanwings flight to Venice has been diverted to Stuttgart after the Airbus A319 aircraft appeared to be losing oil, the airline said in a statement.

Germanwings flight 4U814, with 123 passengers and five crew members on board, took off from Cologne at 9.55am local time (3.55am EDT).

Germanwings said the pilots shut off one of the aircraft's engines and diverted the plane to Stuttgart when the problem was detected.

"This is a standard safety procedure. It was not an emergency landing," it said, adding the aircraft was being examined by technicians.

On 3 April another Germanwings plane was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Venice after a passenger suddenly became unwell.

Eugenio Bartolini, a professor from Rome who was on the plane, was quoted by Il Messaggero as saying that a female passenger sitting in the row behind him needed assistance for what appeared to be "fear of flying" and "apprehension".

The two separate incidents come less than two weeks after a Germanwings plane was deliberately crashed into the Alps by its co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, resulting in the death of all 150 people who were on board.

Additional reporting by Reuters