An “undefined odour” meant England fans returning from Sunday’s Euro 2024 final defeat had their flight turned back to Berlin for an emergency landing.
Some fans slept in the airport to board Eurowings flight EW8470 to Manchester, which took off at 8.09am on Monday morning before having to loop back and land at Berlin Brandenburg Airport just 15 minutes later.
The German airline said the “unscheduled return” was due “an undefined odour in the cabin” prompting an air emergency, but amid concerns of a fire an inspection by emergency services on the ground found no smoke or fire in the aircraft.
John Hattam arrived at Berlin airport at 1am on Monday morning after watching England lose 2-1 to Spain in the Olympiastadion and said the incident had caused “chaos” for fans returning home.
“We’re all knackered, slept in the airport and just wanted to be home,” the 34-year-old teacher from York, who was present at all of England’s knockout games, told the PA news agency.
“Then within 15 minutes the Tannoy came on saying we’re going to have to return to Berlin because there’s this burning smell in the cockpit.
“I don’t want anyone saying those England fans should be glad we got back safely, we are… and I was glad to be back on land because it was a little bit concerning – fair play to everyone who was on the aircraft and the pilot, everything was kept calm.”
Mr Hattam said he could not smell the odour which caused the plan to land.
He said the last thing the air hostess told them as they got off the plane was: “Please do not film anything because we don’t want to be on TikTok.”
A large group of fire engines greeted the 150 passengers arriving back in Berlin, which Mr Hattam said was “worrying” but praised staff for keeping everyone calm as they disembarked via stairs before being taken back to the terminal by bus.
However he condemned Eurowings’ communication once passengers had returned the terminal.
He said customers had to work out for themselves that they needed to check in again for their new flight on Monday afternoon and there was no-one from Eurowings available to speak to for more information.
“Nobody’s got a text, nobody’s got an email, nobody’s had an update on the app – it’s just chaos,” he said.
“It just seems like nobody knows what’s going on – and nobody knows what that smell was too.”
Passengers were told a £5 food voucher was added to their ticket so they could buy sustenance while waiting in the airport, but Mr Hattam said none of the airport’s shops seemed to accept it.
“Nobody knows where it does work and we don’t have anybody to ask – that seems a little bit a bit of a kick in the face as well,” he said.
“I do understand worse things happen, so I don’t want to come across as a whinging England fan.
“However they have let us down in terms of their handling of this situation and the chaos it’s caused for so many England fans returning home.”
A Eurowings spokesperson said: “Flight EW8470 from Berlin to Manchester made an unscheduled return to Berlin this morning due to an undefined odour in the cabin.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our guests.
“Despite limited capacity due to the high summer vacation volume and the return traffic after yesterday’s European Championship final, we did our utmost to provide our passengers with the fastest possible care.”
