Birmingham Airport latest: Runway shut and flights halted after plane’s emergency landing – UK Times

With aircraft, pilots and cabin crew out of position, airlines have begun to cancel outbound flights from Birmingham airport.

The cancellations so far:

• Aer Lingus to Belfast City (two)
• Air France to Paris
• Brussels Airlines to Brussels

Under air passengers’ rights rules, travellers whose flights are cancelled are entitled to be flown to their final destination as soon as possible, including on rival airlines if seats are available. But during the summer peak many flights are fully booked.

Airlines that cancel flights are also obliged to provide hotel rooms and meals as required until the passengers can travel to their destination.

All departures and arrivals to Birmingham Airport have been stopped until 5.30pm, The Telegraph has reported.

Holidaymakers have been advised to check with their airline before travelling to the airport.

Birmingham Airport Police, which forms part of West Midlands Police, have said that an investigation has been launched and the Civil Aviation Authority has been informed.

Here’s a list of all the diversions caused to the closure of Birmingham Airport’s runway.

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.

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.

West Midlands Police said one person had suffered minor injuries after a small aircraft made an emergency landing at Birmingham Airport.

In a post on the Birmingham Airport Police X account, the force said: “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.”

In a statement, Birmingham Airport said that all flights are on hold and the runway has been temporarily closed due to an “aircraft incident”.

According to data on Flightradar24, the aircraft involved was a Beechcraft B200 Super King Air twin turboprop.

It is listed as belonging to Woodgate Aviation, and appears to have been destined for its home base, George Best Belfast City

.It took off at 1.16pm, climbed to 5,750 feet and almost immediately entered a holding pattern.

At 1.35pm the aircraft overflew the runway at just 300 feet. It is not clear if the pilot was attempting to land or enabling air traffic controllers to inspect the undercarriage.

The Flightradar data shows the aircraft making contact with the ground at 1.57pm.

The website for Birmingham Airport has gone down, following the advice for passengers to check their flight status.

It has since been replaced by an error code.

Birmingham airport’s runway is closed after what is described as “an aircraft incident” – believed to involve a light aircraft whose landing gear would not deploy.

The condition of the pilot and any passengers is not known.

Announcing the closure on X (formerly Twitter), Birmingham airport said: “Following an aircraft incident, the runway is temporarily closed. We apologise for the inconvenience this will cause.

“We will keep passengers already at the airport informed, and those due to travel later today are advised to check the status of their flight before coming to the airport.”

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.