Ryanair and Germanwings flights make forced landings after mid-air emergencies over France

Two planes report on-board emergencies within minutes of each other

Ryanair Plane (Getty)

Two passenger planes have been forced to land at Bordeaux airport after reporting mid-air emergencies over French airspace.

Ryanair flight FR9886 from Liverpool to Alicante and Germanwings flight 4U9642 were both redirected to Bordeaux this morning following the separate on-board incidents within minutes of each other.

Both declared medical emergencies after passengers fell ill on board the flights.

A Ryanair spokesman said: “This flight from Liverpool to Alicante diverted to Bordeaux after a customer became ill on board. The crew called ahead to request medical assistance, the aircraft landed normally and the customer disembarked and was met by medics for further treatment.

“The aircraft will depart to Alicante shortly and Ryanair apologised to customers for the short delay to their flight.”

The Germanwings flight was also redirected after a male passenger reportedly experienced heart problems.

A Germanwings spokesman said: “Due to a medical emergency on board, flight 4U9642 had to stop over in Bordeaux. The safety of our passengers was never at risk. We apologise for the inconvenience passengers suffered as a result.”

The diversions follow an incident on Monday also involving a Germanwings flight in which pilots were forced to perform an emergency landing after smoke filled the cockpit of a flight from Dresden to Düsseldorf.

There were no injuries after the landing at Düsseldorf airport, a Germanwings spokesman told German newspaper BILD.

Flight 4U9023 was carrying 142 passengers and five crew, all of whom were able to disembark the plane after the landing.

Pilots reacted immediately after noticing smoke in the cockpit and landed the plane at 9.50pm accompanied by fire crew