A Ryanair flight between Belgium and Spain was diverted after a woman on board went into labor
The new mother reportedly safely delivered the child while on the plane, which was then diverted to Limoges, France
Her unexpected birth only delayed the flight by around two hours
A Ryanair flight was reportedly diverted after an expecting mother on board went into labor and delivered her baby.
Flight 4797 was traveling between Belgium and Spain on Thursday, May 8, when it was diverted to Limoges, France, according to reporting by Business Insider, which cited data from the flight-tracking service Flightradar24.
The outlet reported that a woman on board went into labor and delivered her child in the plane. This happened about an hour into the flight.
Ninety minutes after the flight made its emergency landing in France, it was back in the air on the journey to Spain, the outlet reported. Despite the unexpected delay, the plane was reportedly less than two hours behind schedule when it landed in Castellón, Spain.
It did operate behind schedule for the rest of the day due to the delay.
PEOPLE reached out to Ryanair for comment but did not hear back at the time of publishing.
Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty
Stock image of a Ryanair flight
While a woman going into labor on a flight isn’t typical, it does happen occasionally. In February 2025, a flight attendant and two medical professionals on board a Brussels Airlines flight helped a woman deliver a child.
“As a cabin crew member, you train for everything, even childbirth — but nothing prepares you for the real thing,” the flight attendant said in a statement from the airline. “But we stayed calm, worked as a team, and followed our procedures.”
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The airline has guidelines about flying while pregnant or with newborns on its website.
Getty
Stock image of a woman holding a newborn baby
As a rule, women are not allowed to fly after 28 weeks of pregnancy. To get on a flight after that point, a doctor needs to fill out a “fit to fly” form.
Even with a form, pregnant women cannot fly after their 36th week of pregnancy. If a woman is expecting more than one child, they aren’t able to fly at all after 32 weeks.
A woman would need to wait two days after giving birth before getting on a flight, and she’ll need even more time if a caesarean section is required. Babies cannot fly safely until they are at least eight days old. Even then, they need an adult passenger to join them.
Although there are rumors that a child gets free flights for life if born on a plane, Business Insider noted that this is not often the case.
The outlet noted that one woman who was delivered on a plane was gifted two first-class tickets after she turned 18. In another instance, the lucky baby received 1 million frequent-flyer miles.
Read the original article on People
