Thomas Cook flight to Heraklion forced to return to Manchester due to technical fault

Manchester Evening News — A flight travelling to Crete was forced to return to Manchester Airport after developing a technical fault.

The Thomas Cook Boeing 763 departed from Manchester at 7.50am on Friday morning and was due to arrive at Heraklion Airport at 2.07pm.

The plane made it as far to Germany, but was forced to perform a U-turn and circled back to Manchester.

Fire crews at Manchester Airport were seen checking underneath the aircraft before passengers and crews were allowed to get off.

Flight MT2048 was carrying 320 passengers and 11 crew members.

A spokesman for Thomas Cook said the flight diverted back to Manchester due to an “unforeseen fault related to its hydraulics”.

He added: “Safety is our highest priority and, while there was no increased risk for the passengers or crew during this incident, our routine response is to carefully examine the aircraft and investigate, before repair work is undertaken by maintenance experts.

“In the meantime, our customers will be taken care of by our representatives at the airport. We are very sorry for their inconvenience and are doing everything we can to get them to their destination as soon as possible.”