AIRPORT CHAOS GOES ON MID-AIR MYSTERY ON AER LINGUS FLIGHT

Passengers baffled as pilot turns back two hours into trip to Dublin

- PAT FLANAGAN

MYSTERY surrounds an incident which forced an Aer Lingus flight to turn back to New York nearly two hours into its journey to Dublin.

Passengers on flight EI104 initially believed it was due to a bird strike but many of them dismissed this explanation as the plane was flying at more than 36,000ft when the decision was made.

The transatlantic flight took off from JFK airport on Wednesday but two hours later as cleared Nova Scotia passengers were informed they were returning to New York.

Paul Keenan, an executive with online marketing company Zors.ie, was on the plane and said passengers were kept in the dark about what was happening.

He said: “Aer Lingus said we turned back shortly after take-off but that never happened…we were a good two hours into the flight.