Ryanair flight FR5448 diverted to Brest on July 6 after Nantes Airport’s runway closed unexpectedly. The crew declared a low-fuel emergency during the 150-mile diversion northwest and asked for priority handling into Brest Bretagne Airport. Passengers later remained onboard and left for Nantes at 23:10 local time.
FR5448 and EI-EBK
The Boeing 737-800 involved, EI-EBK, had departed Sevilla Airport at 5:35 PM and was on final approach to Nantes just after 7:00 PM when the landing was abandoned. The pilots climbed to 7,000 feet, then ATC directed the aircraft into a hold at 4,000 feet for several minutes before the captain declared an emergency and the transponder was switched to code 7700. The crew then climbed to 20,000 feet as ATC issued priority vectoring to the Brittany peninsula.
Flight FR5448 touched down in Brest 2 hours and 40 minutes after takeoff, and the aircraft landed safely with fuel remaining above final reserve fuel. That is the key detail for passengers: the crew treated the situation as urgent in the air, but the aircraft still arrived with fuel above the lowest reserve level required for continued flight. EI-EBK has been flying for Ryanair since 2009.
Nantes Airport runway
The diversion followed the runway closure tied to Iberia flight IB1222, which was being operated by Air Nostrum and was bound for Madrid International Airport. The Bombardier CRJ1000 experienced an engine failure at full thrust during takeoff, and one engine was shut down because of foreign object debris believed to have come from a tire burst. The CRJ got airborne, then circled back immediately for an emergency landing.
Nantes completed a full inspection of the airstrip at 10:30 PM, and the runway reopened four hours after IB1222’s rough landing. Since 11:00 PM local time, the runway at Nantes has resumed normal traffic without further incident. For passengers on FR5448, the practical result was a same-night reroute through Brest before the flight continued to Nantes at 23:10 local time.
The unresolved point is why the crew needed to declare a low-fuel emergency if the aircraft later landed above final reserve fuel. The sequence shows the crew treated the hold, the diversion, and the runway closure as time-critical, and passengers were still moved onward the same night.
