Earlier this morning, Liverpool Airport has had an interesting diversion, being a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A350-1000!
Information around the reasons for this diversion, rather than continuing to Manchester, has been revealed.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
Virgin Atlantic Flight VS74 – Orlando to Manchester…
Virgin Atlantic flight VS74, which made the diversion to Liverpool, is a routine scheduled flight between Orlando and Manchester.
Furthermore, the aircraft involved in the incident was G-VEVE.
As per data from Planespotters.net, G-VEVE is a 5.1 year old Airbus A350-1000 that was delivered to Virgin Atlantic back in December 2021.
Of the A350-1000 variant, which diverted to Liverpool, the airline has 12 of them in their fleet, of which all of them are in active service, with an average fleet age of 5.8 years.
As well as the A350, the airline has the following other aircraft in their mainline fleet:
- 6 Airbus A330-300s.
- 8 Airbus A330-900neos.
- 17 Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
In total, the airline has 43 aircraft in their fleet, of which 41 are in active service, and two are parked, with an average fleet age of 8.4 years.
Virgin Atlantic flight VS74, which diverted to Liverpool Airport, departed from Orlando at 2105 local time last night (September 21).
Everything was normal in the flight until the latter stages of the approach into Manchester Airport.
The aircraft performed some holds near the Warrington area, before attempting a landing, which was unsuccessful.
From there, at just over 2,000 feet, the aircraft opted to head west to Liverpool Airport, with a short runway, and land there, without further incident.
Reason for the Liverpool Diversion?
As per AirLive, operations at Manchester Airport stopped due to heavy fog, which prompted the diversion of the Virgin Atlantic A350 into Liverpool Airport.
On top of this, @SPD_Travels on X notes that alongside a runway lighting issue and the fog, this was what prompted the closure decision.
This closure looks to have been prompted after the approach of the aircraft.
However, one of the aircraft’s sister flights, VS128 from New York, was able to land into Manchester safely.
It is unclear what happens to the passengers stuck at Liverpool Airport now following this.
However, it is likely that they will be put on transport to Manchester Airport and the aircraft will reposition once conditions are safe enough to do so.
As soon as we get more information, we will update you accordingly.
Continue to follow The Aviation Hub for more analysis and insight.
