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Louise Thomas

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An easyJet flight bound for Tenerife was forced to divert to London after suffering a “technical issue” mid-flight.

Flight U28033 from Gatwick to Tenerife South Airport returned to the London aviation hub this morning.

According to Flight Emergency, a squawk code 7700 was issued as the Airbus A321neo flew over France at around 8.40am.

A squawk 7700 code indicates that there is an emergency onboard the aircraft.

As it approached Spanish airspace, the easyJet flight left cruising level FL330, turned around and descended to return to London Gatwick.

The flight then entered a holding pattern at 6,000ft to burn off fuel before its return to land at its departure airport.

Up to 244 passengers, including British holidaymakers, who were on board the commercial flight safely disembarked upon landing.

A spokeswoman for Gatwick Airport said: “The aircraft has landed safely and no operational impact at the airport.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for easyJet said: “We can confirm that the captain of flight EZY8033 from London Gatwick to Tenerife took the decision to return to Gatwick as a precaution, due to a technical issue.

“The Captain performed a routine landing in accordance with standard operating procedures and passengers have disembarked normally.

“We are arranging for an alternative aircraft to operate the flight to Tenerife and would like to thank customers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of the delay.

“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is our highest priority and easyJet operates its aircraft in strict compliance with manufacturer guidelines.”

This is just one of many delays the airline has encountered this summer.

Just last week, a pair of easyJet flights between Manchester and the Greek island of Rhodes were delayed by over four hours due to “air-traffic control restrictions”.

Annoyingly for easyJet, a Ryanair plane flying the same there-and-back journey 25 minutes later was permitted to depart – and landed on the Greek island on time.

For more travel news and advice listen to Simon Calder’s podcast.

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