Picture: Breakingnews.ieThe jet was about an hour west of Ireland when the crew declared a MayDay
A transatlantic flight has been forced to make an emergency landing at Shannon Airport this morning after the crew reported smoke on board.
The flight in question was Virgin Atlantic flight VS-50A travelling from Orland, Florida in the US to Gatwick Airport in England.
The Airbus A330-300 jet was about an hour west of Ireland when the crew declared a MayDay and requested permission to divert to Shannon.
The flight landed safely at 7.21am and the 200-passengers were taken to the airport’s transit lounge where they will await the arrival of a replacement aircraft.
An airline spokeswoman said: “Our flight diverted to Shannon as a precautionary measure after reports of smoke onboard.
"The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority and we’re now doing all we can to get our customers to their final destination as quickly as possible. We'd like to apologise to our customers for the disruption to their journey and thank them for their patience."
