Ninety-five percent of airline flights that are diverted for medical reasons return to the air to complete travel to their planned destinations, according to new research by U.K. and U.S. scientists.
In a report published in the February issue of Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance, the researchers wrote that, of the 13,634 flights in the United States that were diverted between Jan. 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019, some 351 were diverted because of an in-flight medical emergency (IFME). Of those 351 diverted airplanes, 344 (95.2 percent) completed the flights to the intended destinations.
In comparison, of the 13,283 flights that were diverted for nonmedical reasons, 71 percent resumed flying after the diversions and continued to their planned destinations, the report said.
“Flights diverted due to IFMEs appear to have less impact overall than do flights diverted for nonmedical reasons,” the report said, adding that those flights “recover more…
