Almost 200 Irish holidaymakers returned home safely tonight after their flight from Spain was delayed and later diverted over safety concerns.
The Budget Travel flight from Reus, in the north-east of the country, arrived in Cork at 5.30pm — 22 hours after leaving the Spanish town.
The travel company said a technical fault forced the captain to land at Charles de Gaulle in Paris four hours into the flight at around 12.35am.
Passengers, who had been delayed six hours in Reus because of a problem with the plane, were put-up in a nearby hotel for the night.
They were provided with breakfast and lunch while engineers cleared the plane to continue the journey to Cork.
In a statement, Budget Travel apologised to the 180 passengers and said the health and safety of its customers were of paramount importance.
"Budget Travel regret to announce that flight FPO 926 experienced a technical problem whilst on route from Reus to Cork," the company said.
"For safety reasons the Captain decided to divert the aircraft to Paris Charles de Gaulle.
"The flight arrived in Paris at 0035hrs this morning and clients were accommodated overnight at the Ibis Airport Hotel."