MORE THAN 150 passengers are due to fly on to Chicago today after their aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing in Shannon yesterday.
Fire services were called to Shannon after a small amount of smoke was detected in the galley of the Virgin Atlantic flight shortly after it left London Heathrow.
While a spokesman for Virgin said later there was no fire on board, emergency services said they had responded to reports that there was a fire in the cockpit.
A spokeswoman for the Irish Aviation Authority said rescue services responded to a full-scale emergency and the priority was to get the aircraft on the ground.
Initial investigations suggested an electrical fault, involving two wires in the area behind the cockpit, said Denis O’Connell, senior fire officer with Clare Fire and Rescue Service.
The 156 passengers travelling on the Airbus A340-300 spent last night in various hotels in Co Clare. They are expected to complete their journey to the US today on an Aer Lingus flight, according to Virgin.
Experts from aircraft manufacturer Airbus are to examine the grounded jet and results from their tests should be known in the next 48 hours.
Firefighters from Shannon airport and Ennis were put on full alert on the runway at 12.20pm, in response to initial reports of the fire.
The aircraft landed at 12.49pm, and an examination by the fire service concluded there was no fire, but there was smoke coming from wires underneath a bin in the galley.
