Holiday jet flying from Glasgow to Tenerife declared a Mayday emergency

The incident has been logged with UK and Spanish safety authorities, it said. As a UK registered plane, the pilot has to file an incident report within four days to the Civil Aviation Authority.

The drama on board flight LS155, which took off on Monday at 9am, happened just north of the Portuguese island of Madeira. The aircraft descended quickly by 10,000ft to 25,000ft to stabilise.

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The drama on board flight LS155, which took off on Monday at 9am, happened just 30 minutes before it was due to land when flying just north of the Portuguese island of Madeira

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An airline spokesman said there had been an 'engine oil pressure issue' which led to the 'controlled shutdown' before landing at Tenerife Airport (pictured)

One insider said that in addition to the verbal Mayday the pilot had issued a 'Squawk 7700' digital alert code to warn air traffic controllers on their screens of the emergency.

'There were oil pressure warnings on the Number 1 engine which was subsequently shut down,' said the insider. 'The pilot issued a Squawk 7700 Mayday emergency warning to air traffic controllers.'

A spokesman for Jet2 said: 'Flight LS155 departed Glasgow on Monday morning at 9am local time.

'Around 30 minutes prior to landing in Tenerife passengers were informed there would be a controlled shutdown of one of the engines as a precautionary measure, due to a technical fault indication. The aircraft landed safely at 13.38.'

Jet2 said its aircraft are always within 60 minutes' flying time of an airport if flying on a single engine, adding: 'Flight Ops (operations) confirmed the pilot carried out a precautionary engine shutdown in line with Boeing procedures.'

Last week, angry Jet2 passengers said they were left to wait an hour in the cold at Manchester Airport after their Alicante flight was diverted there.

Holidaymakers returning from Spain on Thursday night described the scenes as 'total chaos'.

The flight was originally scheduled for Blackpool but Jet2 changed the destination after an announcement the airport would be closing when no buyer could be found.

Passenger Jackie Hughson said people, including those who were elderly and infirm, had to walk a long distance to the terminal, adding: 'People had to struggle on a long walk to get to where the coaches were supposed to be and there were no wheelchairs.'

Jet2 apologised for the disruption, adding: 'The Alicante flight was originally set to return to Blackpool Airport. However, restrictions in place at Blackpool meant we had to return to Manchester.'