Storm Isha causes chaos at UK airports with flights diverted and canceled
Bad weather caused by Storm Isha forced pilots to make a "hard landing" and divert planes to European airports instead of British ones. The flight cancellations and reroutes were the result of unpredictable wind gusts of up to 90 miles per hour on January 21 and 22.
A number of airports, including Manchester, Dublin, Heathrow, Gatwick and Birmingham, were in chaos. According to The Mirror, a Ryanair plane flying from Manchester was unable to land at Dublin Airport and was forced to land in Paris.
In Europe, the weather allowed for a safe landing. In the romantic city, the passengers spent 2.5 hours on the runway before resuming their route to Ireland.
An airplane from London Stansted Airport, en route to Newquay, diverted due to turbulence and traveled 1,100 miles before reaching Malaga in Spain.
A British Airways flight from Ibiza to London also encountered difficulties due to Isha during landing, but the pilots managed to complete the quest and landed safely, albeit "roughly".
Graeme McQueen, a spokesman for DAA, the company that operates Dublin Airport, said that 29 flights were canceled, including 16 arrivals and 13 departures. This is in addition to the 166 canceled flights on Sunday.
It is also reported that 36 flights were diverted to other airports, and 34 planes went on detours.