An Avianca aircraft flying between Madrid (Spain) and Medellin (Colombia) landed this Monday in Ponta Delgada in the Azores due to a medical emergency in which a passenger was injured, company sources said.
Flight AV17 was approximately six hours and forty minutes from its destination when it turned back and made an emergency landing on San Miguel Island to assist a passenger.
Avianca sources confirmed to Efe that the diversion and landing were due to a medical emergency and had nothing to do with technical problems.
According to the same source, the pilot requested permission to land “in the middle” of the route four hours after takeoff in the Spanish capital, at 15:00 local time.
The Boeing 787 landed safely after quick clearance from the control tower at Joao Paulo II Airport in Ponta Delgada.
Between 2018 and 2009, two Avianca aircraft were forced to make emergency landings in the Azores due to an electrical fault and another medical emergency.
Lusa tried to confirm this information at Joao Paulo II airport, but at the time of contact there was no longer a person responsible for providing the information.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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