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Jet2 Tenerife to Birmingham flight makes emergency landing in Portugal after pilot falls ill
Passengers were left waiting in Porto for hours after the aircraft diverted mid‑flight
A Jet2 flight from Tenerife to Birmingham was forced to make an emergency landing in Portugal on Thursday night after one of the pilots became seriously unwell mid‑flight.Flight LS1266 had departed from Tenerife South Airport when passengers say the aircraft suddenly lost altitude. Shortly afterwards, cabin crew asked over the intercom whether any medically trained passengers were on board, as the Airbus A321 was diverted towards Porto.
The plane landed safely at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport at around 2.10am local time, where emergency services were already waiting on the runway. Medical teams boarded the aircraft immediately and treated the pilot before taking him to hospital.
The unplanned stop meant the original schedule to Birmingham was delayed by many hours. Passengers were left waiting in Porto for more than 13 hours before replacement crew arrived and the journey could continue. Some travellers said they had not been offered accommodation and complained about the long delay and the lack of clear information.
Passengers later said they had been told the pilot may have suffered a heart attack, although Jet2 has not officially confirmed that. The airline did confirm that the diversion happened because one of the pilots became unwell during the flight.
In a statement, Jet2 said: “At no point was safety compromised, and customers subsequently continued their journey.”
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Image: Drinu Cutajar/Pexels
