Flights sometimes take longer than planned, and that’s why airlines always have fuel reserves, planned diversion points, etc. The aviation industry operates with an incredible focus on having a safety margin, but sometimes things don’t go as planned. Along those lines, a Ryanair flight recently had what can only be described as a very close call.
Ryanair flight has incredibly stressful 110-minute diversion
The Aviation Herald has the story of what happened on Friday, October 3, 2025, involving Ryanair flight FR3418. The flight was operated by a Malta Air (Ryanair subsidiary) Boeing 737-800 with the registration code 9H-QBD, and it was scheduled to operate from Pisa, Italy (PSA), to Prestwick, Scotland (PIK).
Long story short, the plane landed way below minimum fuel, but there’s a lot more to the story. This all happened during Storm Amy, which saw winds approaching 100 miles per hour in many parts of England. So here’s how this played out:
- The plane was supposed to land on runway 20 at Prestwick, but had to perform a go around due to weather
- The aircraft then entered a holding pattern, and then attempted another landing on the same runway around 30 minutes after the initial landing attempt, but had to perform a go around again
- The aircraft then entered another holding pattern, and 10 minutes later, the crew decided to divert to Edinburgh (EDI)
- The aircraft attempted to land on runway 24 at Edinburgh around 60 minutes after the initial go around, but had to go around again
- The aircraft then diverted to Manchester (MAN), where the aircraft finally landed around 110 minutes after the initial go around
In the end, the plane was in the air for a total of 4hr23min, which is way longer than the typical 2hr20min journey for this 1,054-mile flight.
It’s being reported that the plane landed with a total of 220 kilograms of fuel remaining, with 100 kilograms in the left engine, and 120 kilograms in the right engine. For what it’s worth, the plane’s overall fuel capacity is around 21,000 kilograms, so its available fuel at the time of landing was just over 1% of the total capacity.
The Air Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is now reviewing the incident. In a statement, Ryanair claims that it has “reported this to the relevant authorities,” and “as this is now subject of an ongoing investigation, which we are cooperating fully with, we are unable to comment.”
This incident was minutes from being a disaster
With just 220 kilograms of fuel remaining, this flight was maybe five minutes from running out of fuel. The amount of time remaining might have actually been much smaller than that, given that a go around can burn a lot more fuel, with the engines spooling up.
So this was a very, very close call, and in aviation, you certainly don’t hope to find yourself in a situation where you basically have one shot at a landing. I can’t imagine how stressed the pilots must have been about the landing in Manchester.
Just for some context on how serious this was, an aircraft would usually declare a fuel emergency when a flight is predicted to land with less than its mandated final reserve fuel, which is typically sufficient for 30 minutes of flight time. So what happened here was way beyond just being a fuel emergency.
None of us were there, so it’s hard to know where this all went wrong, but I’m sure an investigation will reveal all those details. Obviously a flight should never get to the point where it has just minutes of fuel remaining. However, what should’ve been done differently? Should more fuel have been loaded, should the pilots have mad the decision to divert earlier, or what?
Bottom line
A Ryanair Boeing 737 came within minutes of running out of fuel, after it had to fly for an additional 110 minutes after performing its first go around. This incident happened during a storm, as the plane was first scheduled to land in Prestwick, then the decision was made to divert to Edinburgh, and then the decision was made to divert to Manchester.
Fortunately the plane landed safely in the end, but with just 220 kilograms of fuel remaining, they had only minutes to spare.
What do you make of this Ryanair close call?