Thousands of travellers faced further long waits at Birmingham Airport today as disruption continued following an emergency landing by a small aircraft.
A total of 33 departures and 10 arrivals were cancelled or delayed today after the Beechcraft B200 Super King Air’s undercarriage collapsed on landing yesterday.
Some 32 departures from the hub today were delayed – nine by more than an hour – and a KLM flight to Amsterdam was cancelled, following the incident at 1.40pm.
Three early morning Jet2 arrivals from Dalaman, Larnaca and Rhodes were cancelled while a further seven flights today landed more than one hour late at Birmingham.
The plane, which had developed problems with its landing gear, was carrying two crew members and a passenger – with one person on board suffering minor injuries.
The airport closed its runway for more than six hours yesterday, only reopening it just before 8pm – but not before some holidays had been cancelled altogether.
The closure resulted in 29 cancelled departures, 17 axed arrivals and a further 37 arrivals being diverted, according to data on flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
Airlines sometimes have to provide compensation under UK law if a flight arrives at its destination more than three hours late, but this is not payable if it was not the carrier’s fault – meaning compensation is unlikely to be paid relating to the Birmingham chaos.
Birmingham is the UK’s seventh-largest airport and was used by 13 million passengers last year, with more than 130 direct routes offered by 30 airlines.
Faye, who was at the airport with her four children, told the BBC she received a text message saying her Jet2 package holiday to Turkey had been cancelled and a full refund will be processed within five days.
She said her children were ‘sobbing and crying,’ adding: ‘We are stuck here waiting for our baggage and it’s boiling hot… and now our kids aren’t going to have a holiday.’
Footage and images appeared to show the small white plane lying flat on the airport runway – with police, firefighters and ambulances all attending the scene.
One observer, who wished to remain anonymous, filmed the plane as it was forced to descend without fully extending its landing gear and made an emergency stop.
He said: ‘It took off from Birmingham, and as it was flying over Tamworth, it declared an emergency. The plane turned around to come back to Birmingham – when it came to land, it went for a go-around [an aborted landing]. I saw all its landing gears out.’
The man added that the plane then attempted a ‘long’ go-around – which means the plane wasn’t able to land because it hadn’t been given clearance, so it stayed in the air.
‘A few aircraft landed in the meantime,’ he added. ‘Then about 15 minutes later, the Super King plane came into view.
‘I could hear a loud noise which I initially thought was the brakes seizing. I realised, after zooming in, the plane was dragging along.’
Birmingham Airport first said at around 2.40pm that its runway was temporarily closed following the incident, before later suggesting flights would remain grounded until at least 8pm.
In an update posted on X shortly before 8pm yesterday evening, the airport said: ‘Following the aircraft incident today, the runway has reopened and operations have resumed.’
It apologised for the disruption caused by the incident and said passengers must check flight details and follow advice issued by their airlines.
‘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,’ the airport added.
The Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB) said it had started an investigation into the incident, with ‘a multi-disciplinary team including inspectors with expertise in aircraft operations, engineering and recorded data’ deployed to the airport.
A Beechcraft B200 Super King Air was also involved in a plane crash at London Southend Airport last month, which killed four people on board.
Many people in Europe trying to fly back to Birmingham were still facing lengthy delays after its reopening.
Diana Celella, an interior designer from Sutton Coldfield, was due to return from Lisbon on a Ryanair flight departing at 8.20pm after a week-long holiday in the Portuguese city with her husband Luigi.
This was due to land at Birmingham at 11.05pm, but ended up arriving at 12.33am this morning.
Before talking off, the 60-year-old, who also works as a lecturer at Arts University Bournemouth, said: ‘My husband and I have had a lovely holiday, so it’s a real shame to end it with this delay. That said, if we do manage to take off tonight, we’ll count ourselves lucky under the circumstances.
‘The atmosphere among fellow passengers is mostly resigned – everyone we’ve spoken to recognises that it’s out of Ryanair’s control.
‘However, there’s been a lack of clear communication. We’ve had no updates from Ryanair since 6.20pm, and there have been no announcements at Lisbon Airport, which is frustrating. Fingers crossed we fly tonight.’
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander earlier said disruption at the airport was ‘minimal’ but she understood ‘how frustrating’ the situation was for passengers.
A West Midlands Police spokesman: ‘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.’
And West Midlands Ambulance Service said in a statement: ‘We were called at 1.45pm to an incident involving a light aircraft at Birmingham Airport.
‘Hazardous Area Response Team (Hart) 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.’
Woodgate Aviation said one of its Beechcraft fixed-wing aircraft was involved in the incident.
The company 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 touchdown.
‘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.’
The chaos comes after a key road tunnel at Heathrow was closed on Tuesday due to a ‘technical fault’, forcing some travellers to drag their luggage up the M4 slip road.
Days earlier, an air-traffic control IT issue cancelled more than 100 flights across the UK.
In March, a fire at an electricity sub-station shut Heathrow for 16 hours, affecting 270,000 passenger journeys.
ADVICE: What should you do if your flight is delayed – and are you entitled to any compensation?
By NICKY KELVIN
Passengers should be aware that there will likely be some further disruption today at Birmingham Airport, following yesterday’s temporary closure.
My advice to travellers heading to the airport today is to check their flight – they can do this by checking airport arrival and departure boards online and the airline’s website to ensure that their flight is still departing on time.
I would also advise to keep an eye on emails from the airline too. Travellers are often given updates on cancellations here before anywhere else. For an expert travel hack, I always recommend looking at FlightRadar24 which allows users to track the exact aircraft that will be flying the route.
Passengers are then able to see where their plane is and whether it has made it out of its previous destination. Knowing this information will help to determine whether they could encounter any delays ahead of their flight.
It is important to know that, if passengers experience delays for more than two hours on a short-haul flight, then airlines must provide passengers with support such as food and drink and reimbursement for phone calls. If passengers are delayed overnight, the airline will provide accommodation and transport to a hotel or home.
Usually if passengers arrive at their destination more than three hours late, they are entitled to compensation, however as this issue is out of the airlines’ control, this type of compensation may not be payable.
If a flight has been cancelled, the airline should find an alternative flight if passengers elect for that option. They can also request that the airline gives them a flight on a rival provider if there’s a flight available that’s earlier than the original airline can offer. They don’t have to travel with the same airline.
The issue with this situation is that all airlines will be affected by the closure so trying to fly with different airlines may also not be possible.
NICKY KELVIN is editor at The Points Guy. For more of his tips, click here
