Ambulance meets plane at Manchester airport after passenger falls ill on Vueling flight

The pilot was given permission to skip the queue of aircraft waiting to land

The low-cost Spanish carrier skipped the queue (iStock / Getty)

Manchester Airport granted a Vueling flight from Barcelona to Manchester priority to land after a passenger fell ill during a flight on 3 September.

The captain of the Airbus A321-211 found out about the situation mid-flight and went on to request permission to land ahead of other aircraft waiting for a runway at the airport.

An ambulance met the plane when it landed so that the passenger could receive medical attention.

The airport stressed that it was not an emergency landing, but confirmed that the low-cost Spanish carrier was given a priority landing to allow the passenger to be treated as soon as possible.

A Manchester Airport spokesperson said: “It’s not unusual for a plane to request priority landing for some reason - which is what happened here. I understand there was a passenger feeling unwell so rather than delay landing they requested priority ahead of a couple of other planes due to land.”

Last month the airport was forced to deal with an emergency landing when a Jet2 flight was forced to return to the ground to correct a mechanical fault on a Boeing 757.

According to Aviation Source, cabin crew declared an emergency squawk code 7700 as the three-hour flight began to descend over Manchester, due to an issue with the aeroplane’s hydraulics.

Last year, an easyJet flight from London Stansted to Belfast George Best Airport diverted to Liverpool John Lennon Airport because of a medical emergency mid-flight.

That followed a pilot in South Africa making a hasty emergency landing after discovering a highly venomous cobra hiding under his seat.

Rudolf Erasmus had four passengers on board the light aircraft during a flight when he felt “something cold” slide across his lower back. He glanced down to see the head of a fairly large Cape Cobra “receding back under the seat,” he said.