A Ryanair flight last week landed at Manchester Airport with only about six minutes of remaining fuel. The Boeing 737-800 was operating on Oct. 3 as FR3418 from Pisa, Italy, to Prestwick, Scotland. The aircraft was forced to divert multiple times after three failed landing attempts in severe weather linked to Storm Amy.
#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
The UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) told The Guardian on Thursday that it had opened an investigation into what it called the “serious incident.” Ryanair said it had initiated the original report and that it is fully cooperating in the investigation.
Only about 220 kilograms of fuel remained upon the flight’s end, according to flight logs. The flight was originally scheduled to arrive at 6 p.m., but passengers reached Prestwick nearly 10 hours late after they were transferred by ground transport from Manchester.
One pilot who reviewed the log told The Guardian that the situation was “as close to a fatal accident as possible.”
On the surface this appears inexcusable. I will be interesting to learn what other options were available and whether there was any company pressure to stick with Prestwick.
Been on many ASAP equivalent boards with three foreign carriers. Never been one for arm chair captains sitting in their dens passing judgement. There were a number of dynamics that occurred in the cockpit leading up to the conclusion of the incident. Probably won’t see the interview transcripts from the crew, communications between crew and company, and let alone the controllers,
A corner gets smaller the closer you get to it. Ask me how I know !
Divert; it is always worth the wait.
Always have a cast iron alternate and the fuel to get there. Minimum fuel on arrival for a B737-700NG was 2000 kg, 4000kg for the 757 & 6000kg for the 747-400. Less than that on shut down meant a rather anxious time on the flight deck, followed by an explanation to the fleet chief pilot, one without coffee and biscuits. Yours aye, Mac McLauchlan
I suspect that when the review is complete the flight dispatchers will be found to have had a “thumb on the scales” as to were to land given the exorbitant landing fees encountered at various airports in the UK/EU and having contract ground crew to handle the airplane after touchdown.
AvHerald reports there was 30 minutes between the go-arounds at Prestwick.
Airplane was on ground for 13 hours at Manchester.
Among possibilities is FQIS error.
(The operator was Malta Air for Ryanair.)
I recall that on the original 737, you had to get fuel out of the centre tank first as boost pumps were limited.