Thousands of passengers are still being disrupted following an emergency landing at Birmingham Airport.
The airport reopened on Wednesday evening after the incident involving a passenger plane closed the runway and caused departure delays and forced landing planes to divert.
Footage and images shared on social media appeared to show a small white plane lying flat on the airport tarmac.
Pictures of the incident suggest the twin-propeller aircraft landed with its main landing gear up – or it collapsed on landing.
Some flights were diverted and flights remained grounded at Birmingham Airport until 8pm after the small aircraft made an emergency landing.
Birmingham Airport said: “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.”
In a statement on its website on Thursday, the airport said there “may be a few delays as we return to normal operations following yesterdays temporary runway closure”.
It has advised all passengers to check with their airline or on the arrivals and departures pages for accurate updates.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the private aircraft – which from current footage appears to be a Beechcraft Superking passenger plane, with collapsed or undeployed landing gear – was headed to Belfast before declaring an in-flight emergency and diverting to Birmingham.
Three people from the aircraft were treated at the scene with one suffering minor injuries from the incident, which occurred at around 1.40pm on Wednesday, West Midlands Police said.
On Wednesday, a West Midlands Police spokesman 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.
“Travellers are urged to follow updates from Birmingham airport for further information.”
Woodgate Aviation said one of its Beechcraft fixed-wing aircraft was involved in an emergency landing at Birmingham Airport on Wednesday.
“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,” the company said in a statement.
“We would like to pay tribute to the professionalism of our colleagues and the emergency services at the airport for their prompt action.”
Three people were treated at the scene of an emergency landing at Birmingham airport, West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) said.
“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,” WMAS said in a statement.
“Upon arrival we found three patients from the aircraft, all of whom were assessed and discharged at the scene.”
Jonathan Nicholson, spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority, said a response will be led by the Air Accidents Investigations Branch.
“Passengers who have been or continue to be impacted can find information about what they are entitled to on our website and social media channels. In the event of delays or cancellations, passengers will be expected to be provided with food and drink as well as accommodation if delayed overnight,” Mr Nicholson said.
Pictures shared online showed a small propeller plane on the airport’s runway with response vehicles surrounding it.
Eight inbound flights were diverted with operators such as Ryanair and Jet2 have re-routing flights to Stansted and Manchester airports due to the closure.
Flights originally scheduled to depart as far back as 2.10pm were still running at the airport after the runway re-opened, but other flights faced delays as late as 12.10am on Thursday, according to Birmingham Airport’s website.
EasyJet said in a statement issued on Wednesday: “Due to the temporary closure of the runway at Birmingham airport this afternoon, three inbound flights have diverted to alternative airports and three departing flights have been unable to operate.
“We are doing all we can to support customers whose flights have been impacted by the closure, providing onward coach travel for diverted flights and options to rebook or a refund as well as hotel accommodation and meals where required for those whose flights have been cancelled.
“We advise customers flying to and from Birmingham today to check the status of their flight on our Flight Tracker for the most up to date information.”
Has your flight been disrupted as a result of this incident? Email alannah.francis@zaia newsto share your story.