A potential disaster was narrowly avoided when a Ryanair passenger plane landed at Manchester Airport with just six minutes’ worth of fuel remaining.
The flight, which was operated by Malta Air on behalf of Ryanair, had departed from Pisa Galileo Galilei Airport in Italy on 3 October, bound for Glasgow Prestwick. Caught in Storm Amy, with winds reaching up to 161 km/h, the Boeing 737–800 was forced to abort three landing attempts at Prestwick before diverting to Edinburgh, where conditions were equally severe. With fuel levels running dangerously low, the aircraft finally landed safely in Manchester, nearly two hours after its first attempt to land in Scotland.
According to flight logs cited by The Guardian, the jet had just 220 kg of fuel remaining – enough for around six minutes of flight. Commercial aviation regulations require airliners to carry enough fuel for the journey, an alternate airport and an additional 30 minutes’ reserve. The flight, therefore, fell well below the minimum safety margin.
#FR3418 Pisa-Prestwick 2nd attempt landing last nyt. (Excuse my over excited daughter, it was her 1st go-around with pax on! Pretty sure they weren’t as excited onboard!) pic.twitter.com/YcRBuG6ggY
— BeautifulReflections (@CharlotteLife82) October 4, 2025
The crew issued a ‘fuel Mayday’ before touching down in Manchester. Flight-tracking service FlightRadar24 shows that the crew had declared a ’Squawk 7,700′ while en route to Manchester, indicating a general emergency. A post on X noted that this was probably due to a fuel emergency.
A pilot who reviewed the flight log told The Guardian: “Just imagine that whenever you land with less than 2T (2,000 kg) of fuel left, you start paying close attention to the situation. Less than 1.5T, you are sweating. But this is as close to a fatal accident as possible”.
The aircraft was carrying 189 passengers. It had already departed from Italy late due to a national strike and protesters briefly invading the tarmac at Pisa Airport. Passenger Alexander Marchi told the Ayr Advertiser that travellers were concerned about arriving in Scotland before the storm hit.
#FR3418 from Pisa to Prestwick diverting to Manchester after landing attempts at Prestwick and Edinburgh. Squawking 7700 likely due to declaring a fuel emergency. https://t.co/xRdo1RYTpy pic.twitter.com/fklfaR585L
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) October 3, 2025
Little did he know that this would indeed be the case. The flight was fine until the first attempt at landing. Marchi told the paper: “The plane circled a few times before the first attempt, but pulled up almost immediately.”
“The second time, it was a very bumpy ride; we could feel the plane was struggling. We almost reached the tarmac, but at the last moment, we pulled up very sharply.”
Marchi said that the attempt to land in Edinburgh was no better. “There was turbulence over the Firth of Forth, and then, as we approached the airport and were very close to landing, we had to pull up sharply again.”
The passengers did not realise the seriousness of the situation until after they landed in Manchester, he adds. “Once we landed in Manchester and saw the reports about the fuel, there was a huge sense of relief,” he said. “Some people were sick from the turbulence, but there was no panic. The staff were brilliant.”
#FR3418 #Ryanair #Pisa #Prestwick #cfc2955 pic.twitter.com/5sUlSLYwY9
— Maar Wierd vindt dingen (@Fraudedesk) October 3, 2025
After waiting for an hour on the tarmac, the passengers disembarked, went through passport control and were taken by coach to Prestwick Airport.
The UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has launched an inquiry into what it has described as a “serious incident”. Investigators have begun collecting evidence. Ryanair stated that it had “reported this to the relevant authorities on Friday [3 October]. As this is now the subject of an ongoing investigation, in which we are fully cooperating, we are unable to comment.
Manchester Airport has declined to comment.
