Thousands of passengers are facing travel delays and disruption after all flights were suspended from Birmingham Airport due to an “aircraft incident”.
The incident is believed to have involved a light aircraft whose landing gear would not deploy as it tried to travel to Belfast around 1pm on Wednesday.
At least 18 flights have since been diverted. Birmingham Airport’s website crashed not long after passengers were told to check their flight status.
The airport, which is the UK’s seventh busiest, registered a 12 per cent increase in passenger numbers in 2024 to reach 12.85 million. It is expected that this will be the busiest ever summer for the West Midlands hub, as easyJet joins the growing number of airlines to set up base at Birmingham.
As the situation unfolds, here is what we currently know about the disruption at Birmingham Airport.
What happened?
It is believed that the aircraft involved was a Beechcraft B200 Super King Air twin turboprop light aircraft, which belonged to Woodgate Aviation, self-described as a leading provider of corporate, business, private and general aviation services in Northern Ireland since 1969.
The flight, which is believed to have been heading to its home base of George Best Belfast City, took off at 1.16pm according to data on FlightRadar24. It climbed to 5,750 feet and almost immediately entered a holding pattern.
At 1.35pm the aircraft overflew the runway at just 300 feet, but it remains unclear if the pilot was attempting to land or enabling air traffic controllers to inspect the undercarriage. FlightRadar data shows the aircraft made contact with the ground at 1.57pm.
It is currently not known what caused the incident.
Is anyone injured?
One person has suffered minor injuries after the small aircraft made an emergency landing at Birmingham Airport, according to West Midlands Police.
Birmingham Airport Police said on social media: “We are at Birmingham Airport this afternoon after a small aircraft was involved in an emergency landing at around 1.40pm.
“Officers are among the emergency crews at the scene and one person has been reported to have minor injuries.
“The Civil…
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