An easyJet flight was close to landing in northern Scotland before diverting all the way back to where it came from when a major storm stopped it from touching down.
Flight 621 took off from London Luton Airport an hour and a half behind schedule on Monday, due largely to Storm Floris, a major weather event hitting the UK this week. The delays would only get worse for passengers.
After about an hour, the Airbus A319 reached its intended destination of Inverness. However, while Flightradar24 shows the plane descended as low as 2,000 feet, it was unable to land.
Instead, it flew the roughly 400 miles back to Luton, becoming a so-called flight to nowhere.
It touched down around 2:25 p.m., landing back where it started after two hours and 800 miles of travel.
An easyJet spokesperson said Flight 621 was required to return to London Luton, “due to strong winds at Inverness.”
“As the forecast was not set to improve, unfortunately, the flight was unable to operate,” they added.
Storm Floris caused huge disruption across the UK on Monday.
The Met Office warned of wind gusts between 50 and 70 mph, reaching 90mph on some exposed coasts and hills.
More than 70,000 homes were left without power, according to Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks. The network called Floris “the most damaging summer storm in recent memory.”
The UK’s train operator was also working to clear routes, with 119 incidents reported on train lines across Scotland on Monday.
Cirium, the aviation analytics firm, reported that 134 flights were canceled as of 3 p.m. on Monday. Belfast and Aberdeen were the worst-affected airports, it added.
“We are doing all we can to minimise the impact of the weather for our customers, providing options to rebooking or a refund, as well as hotel accommodation and meals for those who require them,” the easyJet spokesperson added.
“The safety and well-being of our customers and crew is our highest priority and while this was outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused by the weather.”
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