Chaos in the sky as mass brawl diverts Canary Islands flight

A recent incident on a flight from the UK to the Canary Islands has raised the question, is air travel becoming more unpredictable? 

On Friday, January 19, a Ryanair journey from the UK to the Canary Islands, chaos erupted mid-air. The flight, originally set to land in Lanzarote, had to make an unscheduled stop in Portugal due to a violent altercation which involved seven passengers.

The mid-air skirmish led to the plane’s diversion to Faro Airport, which landed at approximately 10:50 am local time.

Unexpected detour

Portuguese police have confirmed the involvement of seven individuals in the fight, which led to one person being arrested. Although there has been no official statement, all those involved in the altercation are said to be British nationals

This incident on flight FR3511 isn’t isolated; in the past month alone, three other Ryanair flights from the UK had to land in Faro for various reasons.

The aircraft, operated by Ireland’s low-cost airline Ryanair, had departed from London Luton Airport at 8:00 am. It was due to arrive in Lanzarote by 12:15 pm but was forced to change course. Ryanair has yet to release a statement regarding the incident.

Recent events for Ryanair

This incident is the latest in a series of diversions for Ryanair. On December 20, a Boeing 737 headed from London Stansted to Lisbon had to land in Faro due to technical difficulties. The situation was so severe that a ‘red code’ alert was issued, summoning 35 emergency vehicles and nearly 80 responders.

Similarly, a December 12 flight from Manchester to Tenerife South was rerouted to Faro following a ‘red alert’, again attributed to technical issues with the plane.

Even earlier, a flight from London Stansted to Morocco on December 5 had to make an emergency landing in Faro after the pilot fell ill.

A Ryanair spokesperson commented on the December 5 incident: ‘The aircraft landed normally, and passengers were transferred to an alternative aircraft operated by another crew before continuing to Morocco.’