(Photo: Russell Lee/Wikipedia)

The flight was en-route from Funchal, Madeira, to Amsterdam, with 149 passengers onboard when the issues occurred.

A pair of Portuguese F-16 fighter jets owere scrabmeld to escort the jet in to Faro airport after it declared an emergency shortly after taking off from Funchal, on Madeira island, the air force announced.

The plane, a 737 Boeing flying under the flag of Netherlands airline Transavia, reported pressurisation problems en route to Amsterdam, the Portuguese Air Force said in a statement.

The aircraft "diverted and landed safely at Faro airport", at 12.51pm, said the air force, which added that on receiving the alert it activated "its whole primary search and rescue system” as the situation unfolded.

This was the second time in less than 24 hours that the air force had scrambled the pair of F-16 jets that are on permanent standby at No. 5 air base at Monte Real, near Lisbon, to escort any civilian aircraft with problems.

The Air Force also scrambled fighter jets to assist a Air Astana plane that lost control of its instruments, yesterday (Sunday).