Thousands of passengers faced travel delays and disruption after all flights were suspended from Birmingham Airport due to an “aircraft incident”.
The incident, believed to have involved a light aircraft whose landing gear would not deploy as it tried to travel to Belfast around 1pm on Wednesday.
While Birmingham Airport resumed its operations and reopened its runway around 8pm, passengers continue to face delays as copious flights have since been diverted and cancelled.
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 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.
Woodgate Aviation said in a statement: “The turbo-prop aircraft was on a flight to Belfast International Airport when it developed landing gear problems. The aircraft returned to Birmingham and made an emergency landing and the main under-carriage collapsed on touch down.
“Two crew members and a passenger were on board but were uninjured.
“The aircraft remains on the runway and Woodgate Aviation will be co-operating fully with Air Accident investigators and airport services.
“We would like to pay tribute to the professionalism of our colleagues and the emergency services at the airport for their prompt action.”
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 Aviation Authority has been informed and the airport has suspended operations as an investigation is carried out.”
West Midlands Ambulance Service said three people were treated and discharged at the scene.
A spokesperson said: “We were called at 1.45pm to an incident involving a light aircraft at Birmingham Airport. Hazardous Area Response Team paramedics and three paramedic officers were sent to the scene. Upon arrival we found three patients from the aircraft, all of whom were assessed and discharged at the scene.”
What flights have been delayed?
The last flight to touch down before the closure was the Ryanair flight from Perpignan, which landed at 1.52pm. Two minutes later, an easyJet flight to Tenerife took off.
Incoming flights were diverted to alternative airports immediately after the runway was shut down. Here are all the diversions we are aware of so far:
- East Midlands: Air France from Paris, Ryanair from Murcia, Jet2 from Kalamata, Preveza and Mahon, Tui from Rhodes.
- Manchester: Jet2 from Lanzarote, Malaga and Faro, Ryanair from Bucharest, Turkish Airlines from Istanbul, Tui from Kos.
- London Stansted: Ryanair from Malaga and Palma, Jet2 from Skiathos.Luton: Jet2 from Kefalonia, easyJet from Corfu and Heraklion.
In addition, an Aer Lingus Regional aircraft from Belfast City was about halfway across the Irish Sea when it turned back to its starting point.
The Brussels Airlines flight from the Belgian capital has been cancelled, along with the return leg from Birmingham.
Is the airport website still down?
Not long after Birmingham Airport advised passengers to check their flight status, the website for Birmingham Airport went down down, replaced by an error code. It remains unclear just what has happened to the online platform, but it is back up and running.
What has Birmingham Airport said so far?
The airport operator has announced that operations have resumed and it is returning to normal.
“Following the aircraft incident today, the runway has reopened and operations have resumed,” the airport said in an update posted on X.
It apologised for the disruption caused by the incident and said passengers must check flight details and follow advice issued by their airlines.
The airport added: “Our teams have worked as quickly as possible, in line with strict protocols, which must be followed to ensure a safe reopening of the runway following a prolonged closure.”
