Updated 11.20am

The passenger plane which was forced to make an emergency landing at Cork Airport last night had a faulty instrument in the cockpit, investigators have confirmed.

The Boeing 737-300 flight from Belfast to Reus in Spain diverted to Cork shortly after take-off due to a suspected fuel leak.

The pilot declared an emergency and the airport’s emergency plan was put into place to guide the plane to safety.

The plane, which was carrying 150 passengers and 5 crew members, landed safely at Cork Airport at 11.45pm.

In a statement, the plane’s operators Air Contractors said that engineers have established that the problem was caused by a faulty instrument in the cockpit and the aircraft has now been fixed.  Airport fire crew confirmed that there was no fuel leak on the plane.

All passengers were accommodated in local hotels overnight, and are due to continue their journey today.

Air Contractors said that  a replacement crew is in  Cork and the flight is due to depart before 12 noon, depending on the air traffic restrictions as a result of the strike by air traffic controllers in France.

Originally published 7.20am

Read: Two planes on a ‘collision course’ in narrow miss at Knock Airport > 

Read: Cork air crash survivors: We realise how lucky we are > 

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