Out of fizz! Champagne cork forces plane to make emergency landing

London: High spirits of passengers on board a Turkey-bound plane from London soon ran out of fizz when the aircraft had to make an emergency landing in Italy after being damaged by a popping champagne cork. The easyJet plane was forced to make the emergency landing when the champagne cork smashed ceiling panels after a stewardess opened the bottle for a customer. It caused oxygen masks to drop from the ceiling. [caption id=“attachment_1328953” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. Reuters[/caption] The plane was halfway through a four-hour flight from London Gatwick to Dalaman, Turkey. The pilot was forced to make the emergency landing in Italy for repairs. “It wasn’t very funny at the time but I can see the lighter side now,” a passenger was quoted as saying by The Telegraph. “All that hassle, delay and money wasted by easyJet — all over a champagne cork! No one on the flight could believe it and people I have spoken to have found it hilarious,” the passenger said. The flight, which took off at 4.20 PM on August 7, was diverted via Milan so the masks could be reset. “EasyJet can confirm that flight EZY8845 from London Gatwick to Dalaman on August 7 diverted to Milan Malpensa as a precautionary measure due to a technical issue with the cabin crew oxygen masks,” an easyJet spokesman said. “In line with safety procedures the captain took the correct decision to divert so that the cabin crew oxygen masks could be reset. The flight continued to Dalaman 1 hour and 7 minutes later once this had happened. Passengers were provided with a complimentary inflight service whilst on the ground in Milan Malpensa,” he said. PTI