A Ryanair flight made an emergency landing after a woman gave birth to a baby on board.
The flight from Brussels to the Spanish province of Castellón was diverted to Limoges in south-western France.
Flight 4797 took off from the Belgian capital about 1:40 p.m. last Thursday, according to data from Flightradar24.
It was then supposed to be a journey of less than two hours, mostly through French airspace. However, the Boeing 737 landed in Limoges an hour after takeoff, per Flightradar24.
The flight-tracking site and local news outlets reported that a woman gave birth on the plane.
Ryanair didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The Boeing 737 took off about 90 minutes after landing in Limoges. Passengers reached Castellón less than two hours later than scheduled, according to flight-tracking data.
Another three flights scheduled on the same aircraft on Thursday were also delayed due to the diversion’s knock-on effects.
A birth on a plane is a very rare event, given that airlines have strict rules about letting pregnant women fly. Ryanair says it requires a letter from a doctor or a midwife from 28 weeks of pregnancy, while travel is not permitted beyond 36 weeks.
While there is a popular myth that being born on a flight might give the child free trips in the future, this is rarely the case.
CNN reported that Thai Airways, Asia Pacific Airlines, AirAsia, and Polar Airlines are the only carriers known to have given a newborn free flights for life.
Shona Owen, who was born on a British Airways flight in 1990, told the outlet she received two free first-class flights to Australia on her 18th birthday, allowing her to visit her grandmother.
And in 2016, Cebu Pacific Air said it gave a baby born on one of its flights one million frequent-flyer points.
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