Jet2 flight bound for Manchester forced to turn back due to 'technical issue'

A Jet2 flight bound for Manchester Airport was forced to turn back due to a "technical issue".

The plane left Antalya Airport in Turkey shortly after 11.45pm yesterday (Tuesday). However, passengers had to return to the same airport an hour and a half later.

One woman, who was on the flight, described hearing a "loud bang" shortly after takeoff followed by a "burning/chemical smell".

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"Lots of people [were] scared," she added. "Quite a few passengers [werevomiting.

"People sat near left wing looking out of window, vomiting and unable to put feet on floor. Hardly any info given which made it worse."

Flight maps show the plane turning around and heading back to the airport shortly after it had departed. Jet2 said it returned due to a "technical issue".

The airline issued an apology and said passengers would were due to fly back to Manchester Airport today.

A spokesperson for the airline said: "We can confirm that flight LS1702 from Antalya to Manchester followed standard procedure and returned to Antalya Airport yesterday, due to a technical issue. The aircraft landed safely and we arranged for all customers to be provided with hotel accommodation overnight. We will be flying customers back to Manchester Airport today and we would of course like to apologise for the delay to their travel plans."