Icelandair drone diversion disruption

An Icelandair flight en route to Manchester (UK) was forced to divert to Liverpool this morning when a drone sighting forced closure of Manchester airport.

According to an article in the Manchester Evening News, the airport closed to all traffic for twenty minutes upon reports of a nearby drone sighting. Police searched for the drone but found nothing. The airport was opened again around noon local time.

Icelandair flight FI440 was scheduled to arrive in Manchester at 11:35 this morning and was therefore one of the flights caught up in the incident. The jet diverted to Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport, where it refuelled and waited for ninety minutes before flying on to Manchester.

An Icelandair spokesperson indicated that this is the first occurrence of this type affecting an Icelandair flight.  

The Manchester Evening News can be found here.