An EasyJet flight departing from Gran Canaria to London Gatwick was forced to return to the airport shortly after take-off yesterday afternoon (Saturday) due to a bird strike.
The crew reported the incident to Enaire’s air traffic control centre in the Canary Islands, prompting the pilots to request an immediate return for safety checks.
In coordination with air traffic controllers, flight EZY8130 held position in a designated waiting area south of Gran Canaria Airport. This holding pattern allowed the crew to conduct necessary inspections without disrupting the high traffic flow during one of the busiest times of the day.
Once the checks were completed, air traffic control cleared the plane for a direct approach to runway 03L. The plane landed smoothly without further complications, and the runway was swiftly cleared to ensure continued operations.
All passengers were disembarked from the plane so that complete safety checks could be carried out before they continued their journey. Eventually they took off just before 9.30pm and landed at Gatwick over 8 hours later than scheduled at 1.30am with no further incident.
