Ballinamore woman on AerLingus flight that had to make emergency landing

A Ballinamore lady was on the Christmas Eve Aer Lingus flight which was forced to turn back to JFK Airpoert, New York after a short flight time due to what it described as a "technical issue."

The airline has apologised to hundreds of passengers who were aboard the Dublin-bound flight. Passengers on board reported hearing several loud bangs, and seeing sparks coming from one of the planes engines.

Many passengers used social media to register their dismay after several hours with no update in relation to when or how they may get home for Christmas.

The airline said that the safety of all those on board was its first priority, and that the flight had to be cancelled for that reason. Passengers had been initially told a recovery flight would be arranged, many passangers had to be booked onto alternative flights, with others getting hotel accommodation.

The flight was only in the air for 30 minutes from JFK airport

One passenger, Kathryn Toolan from Ballinamore who has been living in the United Stated for the past 10 years was on the flight. She said that there were "five or six big bangs".

Speaking to RTÉ News, she said "I was actually right on the wing, looking at it, and we were only up in the air for a few minutes and there was maybe 5-6 quite big bangs. My first thought was 'have birds flown into the turbine?'

"It was consecutive big flashes and then the right engine was in flames for moments after each bang. That rocked the plane a bit and everybody was a bit shook up. We clearly heard the engine being turned off because it basically went silent on the right side of the plane.

She said the pilot alerted passengers to the issue, before informing them that while the situation had been addressed, they could not continue further and had to return to JFK.

She added: "I was on the right side of the plane so I saw the whole flashes and essentially the explosions, but people on the left side also saw the sparks, as they were big enough to flutter over and across the plane, which was scary"

She was not happy with the customer service from Aer Lingus after the plane landed. It is understood Kathryn eventually got an alternative flight home.