A Ryanair plane has been forced to make an emergency landing after two passengers sparked a mid-air brawl on flight RYR6698 from Edinburgh to Gran Canaria this morning (Friday).
The plane departed from the Scottish airport at around 6:00am but was forced to divert to Faro while it was en route to the Canary Islands.
It was meant to land in Gran Canaria at 10.45am this morning, but a source told the Scottish Sun that two drunk passengers began "fighting and kicking off” while the plane was in the air forcing the pilot to report the incident and be diverted.
Faro Police were waiting for the plane when it landed and escorted the two men off the aircraft, and confirmed that they were family members. The police added: "Two passengers started arguing and beating each other during the flight, which resulted in the commander deciding to divert the plane to Faro Airport.”
“Following the orders of the commander, they were extracted from the plane at our airport and were identified by our police force to complete a police report. It was not a major incident and did not cause any danger to the aircraft or its passengers."
Live flight tracker site, Flight Radar, showed a new route for the RYR6698 plane departing from Faro, as it left the Portuguese airport at 10:06am and finally landed in Gran Canaria at 11:53am, causing over an hour delay for the other passengers.
Ryanair apologised to travellers after confirming that the two men were taken off the plane by Faro police officers. A spokesperson said: “The flight from Edinburgh to Gran Canaria this morning was diverted to Faro after a small number of passengers became disruptive onboard.”
"Crew called ahead for police assistance and the passengers were removed from the aircraft by local police before the flight continued safely to Gran Canaria. We sincerely apologise to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused as a result of these passengers’ disruptive behaviour.”
