By Adam Evans
A suspected technical issue on a flight between Manchester and Belfast City Airport has been forced to land in Scotland this evening.
Flybe flight BE480 took off around an hour late from Manchester at 4.04pm and after circling several times over Belfast Lough it was diverted to Prestwick.
We understood it landed safely at 5.47pm.
In a statement Flybe has told Q Radio: "Flybe can confirm that the captain of the above flight took the recommended action following a suspected technical fault en-route from Manchester to Belfast City Airport and, as an additional precautionary measure, elected to divert to Glasgow Prestwick Airport.
"The aircraft landed safely without incident. As is usual in such circumstances, the airport put its emergency vehicles on standby. All 78 passengers disembarked as normal when the aircraft arrived on stand.
"All passengers will be re-accommodated on a replacement aircraft that is currently re-positioning to Glasgow Prestwick so they can complete their travel without further undue delay.
"The safety of its passengers and crew is the airline’s number one priority and Flybe sincerely apologises for any inconvenience experienced."
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