An EasyJet plane full of British passengers today made an emergency landing in France after passengers smelled burning on board.

The Airbus A320, which took off from London Gatwick early in the morning, was heading for Faro in Portugal’s Algarve.

Instead, it was rerouted to land in La Rochelle on western France’s Atlantic coast at around 10.30am.

There were no injuries among the 165 passengers or six crew, who were almost all British, said a local fire service spokesman.

He added: ‘They were all evacuated safely after the plane landed.

'Firemen then boarded the Airbus to inspect it with a heat-sensitive camera. There seemed to be no obvious explanation for the burning smell.’

All completed their journey to the Algarve on a replacement aircraft.

A spokesman for the airline said: 'EasyJet can confirm that the flight EZY 8917 from London-Gatwick to Faro underwent........