Ryanair flight diverted to Manchester amid fuel emergency during Storm Amy

A Ryanair flight bound for Prestwick Airport in Scotland was forced to divert and make an emergency landing in Manchester on October 3 after crew reported a fuel emergency while battling severe winds from Storm Amy, officials and passengers said. The aircraft, operated by Malta Air on behalf of Ryanair, had attempted to land at Prestwick and then Edinburgh before touching down in Manchester nearly two hours after the first landing attempt.

Flight FR3418, a Boeing 737-800, departed Pisa, Italy, and the cockpit crew issued a 7700 squawk code, the universal signal for a general emergency, and reportedly declared a fuel emergency during the descent to Scotland. According to a technical log and passenger accounts, the aircraft landed in Manchester with about 220 kilograms of fuel remaining, which pilots who reviewed the figure said would allow roughly five to six minutes of flight time.

Passengers described a tense sequence of events. Alexander Marchi, who was on the flight, said the journey had been delayed on the ground in Pisa after protestors entered the tarmac amid a strike, and that conditions deteriorated during the descent. "Everything was fine until we started our descent,"...