Ryanair flight lands with 6 minutes of fuel left following storm and diversions  

A Ryanair Boeing 737-800 was forced to land below minimum safe fuel levels after attempting to land at three different UK airports in a storm. Although the aircraft eventually landed safely, the authorities are now investigating the circumstances surrounding the event.

The affected flight was Ryanair flight FR3418 on October 3, 2025, operated by the company’s Malta-based subsidiary, Malta Air. The flight was scheduled to operate from Pisa Airport (PSA) in Italy to Glasgow-Prestwick Airport in Scotland (PIK). The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-800 registered as 9H-QBD. According to ch-aviation, the aircraft is 10.3 years old and is configured to accommodate 189 passengers in a single-class layout.

The flight departed from Pisa Airport at 17:28 local time, over an hour after its scheduled departure time. The flight took off and headed northeast, routing over Switzerland, France, and up the spine of the UK towards Prestwick Airport. According to The Guardian, as the flight approached Scotland, amber weather warnings were in place for all airports in the north of the UK as Storm Amy battered the country with high winds and heavy rain.

Flightradar24Despite the adverse weather warnings, FR3418 began the approach sequence for a landing at Prestwick.  According to data obtained from Flightradar 24, the aircraft made a single approach and landing attempt at 19:04 local time before heading south and circling the airport. At 19:34, the aircraft made a second attempt at landing but aborted that attempt, too. After a further 20 minutes of circling, the crew elected to head to Edinburgh Airport (EDI), its nominated alternative airport, to try to land there.

At 20:09, the aircraft made an aborted landing attempt at Edinburgh. However, with the high winds proving to be too much of a challenge at Edinburgh, too, the crew decides to abandon plans to land in Scotland and head to Manchester Airport (MAN)  across the border in England, where the winds were forecast to be lighter.

Flightradar24By this stage, and with three landing attempts behind it as well as circling time, the aircraft’s fuel reserves were running low. On approach into Manchester, the crew issued an emergency call declaring a fuel emergency and requesting a priority landing. The flight touched down at Manchester Airport with just 220kg of fuel remaining on board – 100kg in the left tanks and 120kg in the right

The AAIB is investigating

According to The Aviation Herald, this fuel level amounted to just six minutes of flying left in the tanks, which is unlikely to have been a sufficient amount should the aircraft have had to make a missed approach (go-around ) at the airport. The UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has now launched an investigation into the incident.

According to a Ryanair spokesperson, “Ryanair reported this to the relevant authorities. As this is now the subject of an ongoing investigation, which we are cooperating fully with, we are unable to comment.”

Renatas Repcinskas / Shutterstock.With the flight landing well below its minimum safe fuel level, the AAIB has confirmed it has opened an investigation into the “serious incident”. One professional pilot told The Guardian that this incident was “as close to a fatal accident as possible.”

Under normal aviation regulations as well as internal Ryanair rules, aircraft must have sufficient fuel upon landing that would have permitted another 30 minutes of flying time. Flight FR3418 clearly had far less than this amount. Aircraft that are still airborne and whose fuel level falls below this, as calculated by the onboard computers, are mandatorily required to declare a fuel emergency.

Having eventually landed in Manchester Airport at 20:51, almost three hours after their original arrival time in Scotland at 18:00, passengers were then bused to Prestwick Airport, arriving at the airport ten hours later than they were due. Other Ryanair flights on the same evening abandoned attempts to land at Prestwick and diverted to other UK airports where Ryanair maintains a presence.

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The post Ryanair flight lands with 6 minutes of fuel left following storm and diversions   appeared first on AeroTime.

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