A British Airways flight was forced to make an emergency U-turn after declaring a mid-air emergency over reports of a cracked window.
The BA EuroFlyer service was headed from London Gatwick Airport to Faro, Portugal, this morning when it had to make the urgent diversion just one hour after take-off.
Pilots issued a mid-air emergency at around 9am, shortly after passing Brittany, France.
The pilots had noticed 'structural damage to a window panel on the right side of the aircraft', according to Aviation news outlet AirLive.
AirNav Radar, which tracks aircrafts, raised the alarm this morning.
They said on X: 'A passenger window is cracked.
'Flight deck going through checks before deciding where to divert.'
The Airbus A321-231 could also be seen heading back to London, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
A British Airways flight was forced to make an emergency U-turn following reports of a cracked window (file image)
The cause of the emergency U-turn has not yet been confirmed.
A spokesperson for British Airways said: 'The aircraft diverted following a minor technical issue and landed safely back at London Gatwick.
'We have apologised to customers for the delay to their journey, and our teams are working hard to get their travel plans back on track.'
It comes after a man was sucked out of a Ryanair plane window on July 10 when he was travelling from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany.
Ljubiša Karović, 61, from Serbia, had his head and shoulders were hanging outside the aircraft at 38,000 feet while his wife desperately clung to his feet.
A fan blade in the Boeing 737-800's right engine is said to have broken loose shortly after takeoff, sending shards spewing out at high speed which smashed the window.
The sudden and intense cabin decompression had sucked him through the gaping hole.
Were YOU on the flight? Email Jada.bas@dailymail.co.uk