Jet2 Boeing involved in two emergencies has been flying for three decades
'I’d like an acknowledgement that I was on the plane and that there was an incident,' says passenger
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Your support makes all the difference.A Boeing 737 aircraft which has made two emergency diversions within 12 days has been in service for more than three decades.
The plane, with registration G-CELI, was on a scheduled flight from Newcastle to Prague when it diverted to Frankfurt on Friday. The oxygen masks were deployed, and the jet made a safe landing.
On 16 July, a Jet2 flight using the same plane from Ibiza to Leeds/Bradford made an emergency landing at Barcelona
A man from Leeds who was travelling on that flight with his wife and young baby has criticised Jet2 for failing to follow up on the emergency.
The passenger, who asked not to be named, said: “There was crying, people were in panic, it was not pleasant.
“Quite a few people’s gas masks [oxygen masks] didn’t come down and they were ripping them from the ceilings, at least three people.
He told The Independent: “There has been zero communication to the passengers, no email, nothing.
“I’d like an acknowledgement that I was on the plane and that there was an incident.”
The aircraft, a Boeing 737-300, was manufactured in the summer of 1986. It was delivered to Lufthansa in October of that year. The German airline flew it for 18 years before passing it on to Jet2 — which at the time was a small start-up carrier based at Leeds/Bradford.
On Friday, the same plane was diverted to Frankfurt after a similar incident.
A Jet2.com spokesperson said: “At no point was the safety of passengers compromised. On landing our crew liaised with everyone on board to ensure their welfare.
“Over the next few days our most senior engineers will be investigating the aircraft fully. At this stage it is too early in the process to comment on the cause of the technical fault.
“We would like to apologise to our customers, as safety is always our highest priority.“
All UK-registered aircraft, regardless of age, are subject to rigorous safety checks.
Other passengers have complained on social media that the airline understated the degree of danger. But on the pilots' aviation forum PPRuNe, one contributor wrote: “Had the oxygen masks not worked and the pilots not initiated a decent then that would have compromised the safety of the passengers.
“What was compromised were the passengers' plans, the profitability of the flight and this aircraft's schedule.”
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