THE LATEST AER Lingus supply flight which was headed to China to pick up personal protective equipment was forced to make an emergency landing in Dublin after it hit a flock of birds. 

The flight, which is one of two heading to China today to pick up the equipment, hit the birds shortly after take-off. 

Flight EI9018 safely landed this afternoon, and took off again at 5pm this evening. 

A statement from Aer Lingus said the pane was assessed by engineers after landing.

Yesterday, the first shipment of personal protective equipment (PPE) landed at Dublin Airport. 

The Airbus A330-302 plane was loaded with PPE including masks, gowns and goggles in Beijing before making the over 8,000 km flight back to Ireland. 

The shipment, worth an estimated €28 million, is made up of 11 million masks, 2.3 million eye protections, 2.4 million gowns, and nine million gloves. 

This is the first delivery flight of the HSE’s €208 million order of PPE from China.

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