Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Josh Salisbury

Ryanair jet from Luton forced to abort landing due to 'GPS scrambling' near Russia

A Ryanair plane - (PA Archive)

A Ryanair flight from Luton Airport was forced to make an emergency stop due to “GPS signal interference” as it approached Lithuania.

The jet was instead forced to divert to Poland on Friday, despite already beginning its descent to the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.

It was forced to divert to an airport in Poland more than 400km away (250 miles).

A spokesperson for Lithuania’s air navigation said the change of route was caused by “GPS signal interference” but said all other flights operating in and out of Vilnius were not affected.

The spokesperson said: "All other planes were landing at the airport as usual."

Lithuania's defence ministry has since confirmed a probe into the incident.

The incident occurred close to Nato’s border with Russia.

It comes after Estonia and Finland accused Russia of using GPS scrambling software to interfere with passenger flights close to Moscow.

Russia denies the claims.

More than 800 instances of GPS interference have been reported in Lithuania over the past three months, Lithuanian air navigation authority has said.

That figure is an increase from 2023’s tally of just 124 incidents.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.