Delays and cancellations affecting thousands of passengers travelling to and leaving Birmingham Airport have followed an emergency landing of a light aircraft on its runway.
Woodgate Aviation, which owns the aircraft, explained that one of its Beechcraft fixed-wing aircraft had incurred landing gear issues during the flight to Belfast from Birmingham.
It carried two of its crew members and one passenger, and none of them were seriously hurt when the main undercarriage failed during landing.
The airport said it had reopened after the runway closed at about 22:00 BST. The runway reopened just before 6:00 BST after about six and three-quarter hours, and close to six hours later (about 19:30 BST) a plane was removed, although the plane continued to remain at the end of the runway.
The first flight to leave the airport after it had reopened was a Wizz Air flight to Bucharest, Romania, which was scheduled to depart Birmingham at 14:10.
The online departure board of Birmingham Airport also indicated that several flights were in a position to check in.
On Wednesday afternoon, some of the passengers informed the BBC that their flights were cancelled just before they were supposed to board the planes.
Speaking in a statement, a spokesperson at Birmingham Airport said: “We understand the frustration and apologise for the disruption this has caused.
“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.”
Some dispatches were put back over 5 hours, and over 20 that we’re on land were redirected to other airports.
Police at the scene included West Midlands Police, West Midlands Fire Service and Birmingham Airport Police. The Airport Accidents Investigation Branch stated that it was investigating the event.
The plane which was used in the accident was a Beechcraft B200 Super King Air, a twin-engine propeller aeroplane that happens to be small in size and has been under production since the seventies.
This flight was from Birmingham, departing and travelling to Belfast.
It left at 13:11, but quickly after it was forced to turn back and now flew in a holding pattern where it landed at Birmingham Airport at 13:58. The aircraft used 7700 Squawk codes- they are transmitted to inform the air traffic control that there is an emergency and the flight has to be handled with priority.
A Birmingham Airport spokesperson 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. We will continue to issue updates when we can.”
