Packed Jet2 plane en route from London to Spain forced to divert to Portugal after red alert

One local source said the airplane had suffered possible engine failure but this has not yet been confirmed by officials or Jet2.

The flight, EXS83LV, was scheduled to land in Fuerteventura at 12.15pm local time after departing London Stansted just before 8am.

Emergency services including paramedics and firefighters are understood to have been put on standby at Faro Airport as part of protocol red alert procedure.

Civil Protection said 35 vehicles and more than 80 responders had been mobilised, including their workers, police, ambulances and firefighters.

Squawk Alert, which follows commercial airlines that declare emergencies, said on X: "The crew of Jet2 flight EXS83LV from London to Fuerteventura has declared an emergency and are diverting to Faro."

Another flight emergency site said: "Diverting to Faro due to a problem with engine number one."

Local reports say 179 people were on the plane and the red alert was sounded at 10.24am local time, around half an hour before it touched down.

A Jet2 spokesman said: "The crew operating flight LS1451 from London Stansted to Fuerteventura followed standard operating procedure and elected to divert to Faro earlier today, after reporting an irregular indication.

"The crew requested a priority landing and the aircraft landed safely. A standby aircraft is being flown to Faro so that customers can continue their journey."

Jet2 confirmed there was no engine failure throughout the duration of the flight.

Earlier this month a plane packed with returning UK tourists had to divert following mid-air toilet malfunction.

Ryanair flight FR1667 should have reached Bristol around 5pm on December 8 after departing from Fuerteventura at lunchtime.

But it diverted to the neighbouring Canary Island of Lanzarote shortly into its 3.5 hour journey after "some toilets" stopped working according to local air traffic controllers.

It was not immediately clear this morning what exactly the problem, which in the past has led to passengers being forced to use bottles to relieve themselves, had been.

The plane touched down in Lanzarote just before 3pm on December 8 after an hour and a half up in the air.

Spanish air traffic controllers said on social media: "The flight crew on a plane from Fuerteventura to Bristol asked to return to Lanzarote because of problems with some of the toilets. It landed without problems."

Five days earlier a Jet2 flight from Edinburgh to Tenerife had to be given priority landing after a cabin crew member was attacked by a passenger.

Air traffic controllers at Tenerife South Airport allowed the pilot to shorten the plane's journey "as much as possible" as it landed.

The crew asked for medical assistance and police to meet the plane when it touched down.

A Jet2 spokesman said afterwards: "We can confirm that police were called to offload a disruptive passenger from flight LS739."