Ryanair flight declares mid-air emergency over UK airspace

It's currently the most-tracked flight in the world

The Ryanair 737-800 with the registration EI-EMD has turned around over the North Sea off the coast of the north east of England after squawking 7700, meaning to declare a mid-air emergency.

The plane was undertaking a flight from Manchester to Oslo, but only made it around a third into the flight before making the U-turn.

It is fairly common for planes to squawk 7700, with it happening multiple times around the world each day.

It is not known yet the reason for declaring a mid-air emergency, although these kind of incident are fairly common and could be anything from a technical issue to a sick passenger.

The plane is currently the most tracked in the world on Flightradar24.

The aircraft appears to be returning to Manchester Airport.

You can follow it here.

Ryanair operates more than 3,600 daily flights, between 224 airports and across 36 countries.

Around 207 million passengers fly with Europe's largest airline annually across a fleet of more than 640 aircraft.

These flights operate from 95 bases.

The airline retains its impeccable 100% safety record.