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A flight carrying England fans back from Berlin has been forced to make an emergency landing due to what the airline said was an ‘undefined smell in the cabin’.
The Manchester-bound flight was forced to return to the German airport just minutes after it took off this morning.
Flight EW8470 took off at 8.09am and climbed to 10,000 feet before turning around and landing back at Berlin at 8.26am, flight trackers show.
The plane was met by the airport fire service and the roughly 150 passengers and crew on board the Airbus A319 were evacuated and taken back to the terminal.
Brits on board have complained about being left ‘stranded’ with no information, with one passenger saying many went back through passport control.
The flight returned to Berlin airport minutes after take off
Gareth Davies from Wigan, told The Independent: ‘A few minutes into the flight the captain came on and said we had to go back to Berlin due to a warning light flashing on the controls.
‘Upon landing we sat there for a short period and a smell of burning entered the cabin,’ he said.
He added that passengers were told not to worry about the fire engines on the ground and to take their luggage.
They were then bussed to the terminal, where he said there was no one available except passport control staff.
‘We hadn’t been told what would happen next so we all went through passport control,’ he said.
‘People had no clue about their checked bags and many exited the baggage hall – I only had carry on.’
Flight EW8470 took off at 8.09am and climbed to 10,000 feet before turning around and landing back at Berlin at 8.26am, flight trackers show
Writing on X, he said there had been Eurowings rep to meet passengers from the plane, saying the airline ‘literally just bunged us all back in to the airport with no communication whatsoever.’
Mr Davies also wrote on X that a flight attendant had told him not to take photos or videos because they didn’t want ‘bad press on social media’.
Eurowings said that passengers and crew were not in danger ‘at any time’ during the incident.
It also told German media that passengers will now be rebooked on alternative flights.
The airline said in a statement : ‘Flight EW8470 made an unscheduled return to Berlin this morning due to an undefined smell in the cabin.
‘The aircraft was subsequently inspected without any findings. As a result, the flight will be delayed and all passengers have already been informed by SMS.’