A plane heading to the Turkish Riviera had to turn back to Manchester Airport. The SunExpress flight XQ593, scheduled for Antalya, took off from Manchester at 1:33 pm BST on Monday but had to return shortly after departure due to a medical emergency on board. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft halted its ascent at 18,000 feet, signaling a general emergency with a Squawk 7700 code to air traffic control. There was a passenger in need of urgent medical assistance.
After briefly circling to prepare for a heavier landing, the plane received clearance for an immediate landing. Medical personnel boarded the aircraft upon arrival to assist the affected passenger. The flight resumed at 4:36 pm BST and successfully reached Antalya at 10:35 pm TRT (8:35 pm BST) as per flight-tracking data.
SunExpress, established in 1989 as a collaboration between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, is a Turkish-German airline headquartered in Antalya.
