Ireland is dealing with a bad storm at the moment, which is having quite the impact on airlines. Well, there’s one Ryanair that had a particularly noteworthy journey, as flagged by reader Matt. Let’s take a look at the saga of Ryanair flight 633, 6333, and 6300 (all the flight numbers used for this journey!).
Dublin-bound Ryanair flight diverts to Manchester
On Sunday, January 21, 2024, Ryanair flight FR633 was scheduled to operate the 774-mile flight from Copenhagen (CPH) to Dublin (DUB). The flight was operated by a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 with the registration code EI-EBD. The 2hr20min flight was supposed to depart at 10:35AM and arrive at 11:55AM, with a one hour time change.
The flight took off from Copenhagen at 11AM, and the first two hours of the flight were routine, as the aircraft flew toward Dublin and began descending. The aircraft attempted to land, but performed a go around due to the conditions. Another attempt was made to land, but that also wasn’t successful.
The aircraft then flew north for a bit, and then the decision was made to divert to Manchester (MAN). The aircraft landed there at 11:55AM local time, 3hr11min after it departed Copenhagen.
Diverted Ryanair flight diverts to Liverpool
Once the plane landed in Manchester, the crew waited for conditions to improve. Finally at 5:31PM, well over five hours after the aircraft landed in Manchester, the decision was made to once again depart. This was operated as Ryanair flight FR6333.
The journey from Manchester to Dublin covers just 165 miles, so it should be a very quick flight. Around 30 minutes after takeoff, the aircraft began its descent toward Dublin. However, while over the Irish Sea, the aircraft entered a holding pattern for around 35 minutes.
Since conditions weren’t improving, the decision was made to divert to Belfast (BFS), 86 miles north of Dublin. First the aircraft entered a holding pattern there, before eventually attempting to land. However, conditions weren’t great in Belfast either, so the aircraft had to perform a go around.
At this point the decision was made to divert to somewhere with much better conditions, given the limited fuel. So the pilots decided to divert to Liverpool (LPL), just 24 miles from Manchester, where they started their journey.
The plane finally landed in Liverpool at 8:39PM, 3hr8min after it departed Manchester.
Ryanair passengers spend the night in Liverpool
After a nearly 12-hour journey that included 6hr19min of flying, the flight was called off for the evening, and people were put in hotels. Finally this morning, Ryanair operated an extra flight from Liverpool to Dublin.
Ryanair flight FR6300 ended up departing at 8:54AM and arriving at 9:29AM, after a short 35-minute flight. So passengers ended up arriving in Dublin over 21 hours behind schedule.
Bottom line
Aviation is complicated under the best of circumstances, let alone when weather gets bad. While there have been all kinds of operational disruptions in Ireland due to weather the past couple of days, a Ryanair flight from Copenhagen to Dublin definitely had one of the most extreme journeys.
Not only was the flight delayed by over 21 hours, but it ended up spending roughly seven hours in the air. I have to imagine that the two flights on Sunday were also anything but smooth, given that much of the flights were spent in holding patterns, performing missed approaches, etc.
Kudos to the crew for operating this journey safely, even if it wasn’t pleasant or convenient.
What do you make of this complicated Ryanair flight?
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