Jet2 plane from Newcastle to Prague makes emergency landing in Frankfurt

All passengers were unharmed, and were taken to Prague in another plane

The flight was en route from Newcastle to Prague when it ran into difficulties (AFP/Getty Images)

A Jet2 flight from Newcastle to Prague made an emergency landing in Frankfurt yesterday.

Flight 509, which leaves Newcastle at 1435, was due to arrive in Prague at 1750, but was diverted because of what Jet2 says was a technical fault.

Photos from inside the plane show oxygen masks deployed.

​Philippa Bell, whose fiancé Joe Monkhouse was on the flight, told the Chronicle that an hour into the flight, the pilot shouted “emergency” over the loudspeaker and the oxygen masks came down.

The plane diverted to Frankfurt. Bell said her fiance had felt his ears popping due to the swift descent and decompression. She said passengers then exited the plane on the runway. All were unharmed.

Jet2 later sent a relief plane to pick them up at Frankfurt and take them to Prague. The flight finally arrived at around 1am.

Journalist and Independent contributor Nick Redmayne was at Prague to catch the return flight back to Newcastle, due to take off at 1835. He told The Independent that passengers for his flight were not told what the matter with the plane was.

“I found out on Twitter,” he said. “There wasn’t a lot of information given out. I was sitting in the main area at 6pm, and there was no gate for the flight showing on the screens, so I thought it must be delayed.

“Five minutes later, the screen said, ‘More information at 2115’.”

Redmayne tweeted Jet2, who told him there was a “technical fault” with the plane. He subsequently received a text saying that his flight had been delayed to 2215.

He said that 90 minutes before the new take-off time, airport staff had still not told the passengers what was going on, but had handed out refreshment vouchers.

Screens at Prague airport showed the flight as delayed (Nick Redmayne)

Jet2 told The Independent in a statement:

“Flight LS509 from Newcastle to Prague diverted to Frankfurt due to a technical fault indication. Our flight crew followed procedure and made a controlled descent before landing safely. We would like to apologise to all those customers affected but their safety is always our number one priority.”

The spokesperson added that the fault is currently under investigation.

The relief flight was estimated to depart from Frankfurt at 2145 and arrive at Prague at 2250, but in fact it arrived around 1am.

Passengers on the return flight to Newcastle were given free water, tea and coffee, and KitKats. Redmayne says they were thanked for their patience by the crew and informed that their original aircraft had been "diverted to Frankfurt for technical reasons." They were told that the relief aircraft was "released from base" to return them "in a timely manner".

Last week, a Jet2 flight from Ibiza to Leeds made an emergency landing at Barcelona following decompression in the cabin.