UK’s Birmingham Airport temporarily shuts after small aircraft makes emergency landing
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Birmingham Airport - Britain’s third largest outside London - served some 13 million passengers in 2024.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON - Birmingham Airport in central England temporarily shut its only runway on Aug 6 after a small aircraft made an emergency landing after developing landing gear problems that left one person with minor injuries.
Woodgate Aviation, a private charter firm that is based at Belfast International Airport and owns the Beech B200 Super King Air plane, said in a statement that the “main under-carriage collapsed on touch down.”
Birmingham Airport said in a later update on Aug 6 that the runway was likely to remain closed until 8pm local time (3am on Aug 7 in Singapore).
All people on board the aircraft had been discharged by the emergency services.
Check-in services and security screening were temporarily closed, it added.
The police said in a post on X that emergency crews responded to the incident, which occurred at around 1240 GMT.
Images shared on social media showed a small propeller aircraft stationary on the runway of Britain’s seventh busiest airport.
The aircraft took off at 1211 local time and was bound for Belfast in Northern Ireland, according to plane tracking website Flightradar24.
The airport website showed that some flights have been diverted to other British airports and some departures have been cancelled or delayed.
Transport minister Heidi Alexander said on X that disruption at the airport was “minimal” but she understood “how frustrating” the situation was for passengers.
The airport, which served some 13 million passengers in 2024, is Britain’s third largest outside London. REUTERS
