Cabin air scare forces plane to land

bmibaby flies from Cardiff to European destinations

A France-bound passenger plane from Cardiff was forced to touch down in Jersey after its cabin depressurised.

The bmibaby Boeing 737 to Toulouse was 20 miles south of the island when pilots reported problems with the plane's air conditioning.

With smoke entering the cabin, 114 passengers had to use oxygen masks until the plane landed under what police termed "a major standby".

The plane landed safely on Saturday evening, but the passengers were stranded on the island until a replacement plane could return many to Wales.

Smoke

The plane, which also carried five crew members, reported the problems shortly after 1700 BST and descending from 31,000ft to 10,000ft.

Passengers were stranded at Jersey Airport

Jersey police said: "The captain reported problems with the air conditioning, which was causing smoke and pressure problems in the cabin.

"Following set procedures, units from the emergency services responded to the airport in support of the airport fire service.

"The aircraft landed safely a short time later. No injuries resulted from this incident.

Stranded

At about 1800 BST, the empty plane was flown to East Midlands Airport for checks.

The airport remained open later than usual, with passengers having to wait until 2340 BST for another bmibaby jet to collect them.

They were taken not to the south of France, but back to Cardiff, and offered the next available flights to Toulouse.

A spokesperson for the budget airline said: "The bmibaby flight performed standard procedure following depressurisation of the aircraft, landing safely at Jersey Airport.

"The plane will now be grounded and won't be able to fly until full safety checks are carried out."