Two Spanish airports hit by separate aircraft emergencies within hours

If you’ve ever been on a plane when something goes wrong, you’ll know how quickly the mood can change. One minute people are settling into their seats or watching the departure board, and the next everyone is looking around trying to work out what is happening.

That was the reality for passengers at two Spanish airports on Friday, after two separate aircraft emergencies unfolded within hours of each other. One plane had to turn back shortly after taking off from Barcelona, while another ended up making an emergency landing in Valencia.

Smoke and flames force plane to turn back

The first incident happened at Barcelona-El Prat shortly after a Delta Airlines flight bound for Atlanta took off. Smoke and flames were detected from one of the aircraft’s engines during the departure, prompting the pilots to turn around and head back towards the airport.  The situation triggered the airport’s emergency response, with firefighters and other emergency teams mobilised to make sure the aircraft could land safely.

Civil Protection also activated the AEROCAT aviation emergency plan at alert level as a precaution while the plane returned to El Prat. The aircraft landed without any reported injuries or material damage, and passengers were able to leave the plane normally. It was later removed from the runway, with reports putting the time at around 1:30pm. Investigators are looking into what caused the engine problem, with a possible bird strike and an internal engine fault among the possibilities being examined. 

Second emergency hits Valencia

The situation was not connected to what happened in Barcelona, but only a few hours later another aircraft needed to make an emergency landing at Valencia Airport. The aircraft was an Airbus A320 operated by Swiss, travelling from Zurich to Valencia.

Rather than going straight in to land, the plane spent time circling before eventually coming down at Valencia Airport at around 3:30pm. The aircraft then remained on the runway for several minutes while the situation was dealt with. That was enough to cause disruption elsewhere at the airport, with five other flights diverted to alternative airports.

Five flights diverted

The affected flights had been due to arrive from Malta, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Basel and Marrakech. Arrivals and departures at Valencia were also suspended for several minutes while the Swiss aircraft remained on the runway. The disruption was temporary, and airport operations subsequently returned to normal.

There were no reports of injuries resulting from the emergency landing, meaning both incidents ended without the kind of consequences passengers and airport staff would have feared when emergency procedures were activated.  For people travelling through Valencia that afternoon, however, the incident meant that a problem involving one aircraft quickly became a problem for several other flights. Passengers whose planes were diverted had to wait for their journeys to be reorganised before continuing to Valencia.

When an aircraft needs priority

An emergency landing can affect much more than the aircraft involved. Air traffic controllers have to make room for the incoming plane, while ground teams prepare for its arrival and other aircraft may have to wait, change their route or use another airport. How much disruption follows depends on how long the aircraft remains on the runway and what other traffic is scheduled at the time.

That is why the same type of emergency can have very different consequences for passengers. One aircraft can return to its departure airport and be dealt with without major disruption, while another can leave an airport temporarily unable to handle its normal flow of arriving and departing flights

Two incidents, hours apart

For the people caught up in the two flights, Friday’s problems began as something they could not have anticipated when they boarded or arrived at the airport. What started as a regular journey changed suddenly, leaving crews to deal with situations that passengers had no control over.

There is also something particularly unsettling about the timing. The two aircraft were operated by different airlines and were travelling on completely different routes, yet both ended up needing emergency assistance at Spanish airports within the same afternoon.