An easyJet Airbus A319 flying from Glasgow to Southampton in the UK diverted to Liverpool on Sunday 18 October. easyJet says the aircraft was hit by a bird after takeoff. "Flight EZY415 from Glasgow to Southampton this morning diverted to Liverpool in line with procedures due to a bird strike after take-off," a spokesperson told the Scottish newspaper Daily Record1. The crew squawked 7700 on the way21. The aircraft landed safely1; no injuries have been reported.

The aircraft was the A319 registered G-EZFI23. The flight appears in reports under three designators: EZY415 in the easyJet statement, U2415 with the airline's IATA code at AirLive, and EZY12NL in The Mirror134. The last one is the callsign the crew used with air traffic control, as the transponder data shows2.

What the flight data shows

Open ADS-B data from adsb.lol shows G-EZFI taking off from Glasgow at 08:25 UTC (09:25 UK time) and reaching 31,000 ft about fourteen minutes later2. AirLive reports the same cruising altitude3. At around 08:46 UTC, over the Irish Sea abeam Lancashire, the aircraft started to descend. At 08:48 UTC, passing roughly 27,400 ft just off the coast at Blackpool, the transponder showed 7700, the general emergency code2. That was about 23 minutes after takeoff. Local media, using a different tracking service, put the squawk at around 24,000 ft1.

The aircraft then continued its descent towards Liverpool, flew a wide turn over the Wirral and Liverpool Bay and approached the airport from the west. It touched down at Liverpool John Lennon Airport at 09:10 UTC (10:10 UK time), about 45 minutes after leaving Glasgow2. North Wales Live describes the same pattern, with the aircraft circling over the Wirral and just off the North Wales coast5. The transponder stayed on 7700 until after landing2.

At the moment of the squawk, Liverpool was about 29 NM from the aircraft by our calculation from the ADS-B position, with Glasgow some 133 NM behind and Southampton about 182 NM ahead2. easyJet has not explained why the crew chose Liverpool; it says only that the diversion followed procedures1.

What it meant for passengers

easyJet said it was arranging a replacement aircraft to take passengers on to Southampton later that morning. "The safety of our customers and crew is our highest priority and while this was outside of our control, we would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused," the spokesperson said14. According to Glasgow Live, the flight had already left Glasgow about twenty minutes behind schedule6.

What is not known

easyJet has not said exactly when the bird was hit, which part of the aircraft was struck or whether there is damage. The ADS-B data shows a normal climb to 31,000 ft and a descent that began about twenty minutes after takeoff2. AirLive reports, citing "initial reports", that the crew reported high vibration in the right engine3. easyJet has not confirmed this. Whether a mayday or pan-pan call was made is not known either: all reports mention only the 7700 squawk, and we found no public recording of the radio traffic.

What a bird does to an engine

In a 2004 briefing note for flight crews, Airbus describes what happens in service after a bird strike. About half of all engine bird strikes damage the engine. When they do, the fan blades are usually damaged, causing significant vibration and a rise in exhaust gas temperature (EGT)7. Around one in five engine bird strikes during takeoff and climb leads to an in-flight turn back, and after a bird strike in takeoff or climb one aircraft in three does not continue to its destination. Only 2 percent of engine bird strikes require the crew to shut the engine down7.

According to Airbus, damage depends mainly on the size of the bird and the thrust setting: the higher the thrust, the greater the risk. Even starlings of about 80 grams can damage an engine. Most bird strikes happen low, below 500 ft above the ground7. For the landing after a bird strike, Airbus advises against using reverse thrust, because it can increase engine damage, especially when the engine shows vibration or high EGT7.

The briefing note distinguishes between a suspected and a confirmed bird strike. A strike counts as confirmed when the crew sees birds very close to the aircraft and also hears a bang, notices changes in engine parameters or engine sound, or sees significant changes on the flight instruments, such as unreliable airspeed7. Which checklist the EZY415 crew used is not known.

How often it happens

In the United Kingdom, the Civil Aviation Authority received 2,025 bird strike reports in 2025, of which 1,702 were confirmed8. July was the busiest month with 318 reports; October had 198, or almost ten per 10,000 commercial aircraft movements8. In more than 200 reports an engine was named as a part struck, and engine damage was reported in just under thirty8. Gulls were the most frequently named species, followed by pigeons. The CAA itself warns that the number of reports at an airport does not by itself say anything about the risk there8.

How engines are tested

A turbine engine can only be certified in Europe once the manufacturer has shown that it can cope with birds. That requirement is CS-E 800 from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency9. The US FAA has almost identical rules in 14 CFR 33.7610. In the most severe test, a single large bird of at least 1.85, 2.75 or 3.65 kg, depending on the inlet throat area, is fired at 200 kt at the most critical point of the fan blades while the engine runs at takeoff thrust. The thrust lever may then not be moved for fifteen seconds9. The engine may lose thrust or even stop in this test; EASA classes that as a minor engine effect. What it must not produce is a hazardous engine effect9, a category that includes non-contained high-energy debris, uncontrolled fire, engine separation and an engine that cannot be shut down9.

The flocking bird requirements are stricter on what the engine must keep doing. Several birds go into the engine within one second, their number and mass depending on the inlet: for an inlet throat area of 1.35 to 1.70 square metres, for example, one bird of 1.15 kg and three of 0.70 kg9. A run of about twenty minutes at varying thrust follows, from two minutes without thrust lever movement to a step at approach idle. The engine may not lose more than 25 percent thrust on a sustained basis and may not shut down910. Since 2018 EASA has also required a separate test for turbofans in which a bird is ingested into the engine core at 250 kt, with the engine at the lowest thrust expected while climbing through 3,000 ft above ground level9.

Earlier this week another UK flight squawked 7700: British Airways BA2660 returned to Gatwick with a cracked cabin window. For a bird strike at low level with a mayday call, see American Airlines flight 1760 at Myrtle Beach.