Aeroplane drama as pilot ‘faints’; Birmingham flight makes emergency landing in Greece

Passengers experienced drama at 30,000 feet after a pilot reportedly “fainted” and their aircraft made an emergency landing. A Jet2 flight from Birmingham Airport to Antalya in Turkey stopped in Greece due to what the airline called a medical emergency.

One fuming passenger claimed the ordeal had delayed the start of their holiday by eight hours. They said their family of four was given a €15 euro voucher each which covered a “basic meal”.

A Jet2 spokesperson insisted the flight was diverted as a “precautionary measure”. The holiday firm said teams worked extremely hard to look after everyone and apologised for the delay.

The incident happened on August 23. And the passenger told Birmingham Live how the ordeal started when the plane hit some turbulence.

They said: “While we were all [seated] we noticed something was going on at the front of the plane. We thought someone had hurt themselves in the toilet while experiencing turbulence.

“We were told we were landing in Greece due to a medical emergency on board. We weren’t told what part.”

A Jet2 spokesperson said:

“Flight LS1239 from Birmingham to Antalya diverted to Thessaloniki Airport as a precautionary measure on Tuesday (August 23) due to one of the pilots feeling unwell.

A replacement crew were flown to Thessaloniki so that we could get customers on their way to Antalya that same evening.