FOUR flights were diverted from Leeds Bradford Airport and the on-site fire operations team were called after a plane experienced difficulties when landing today.
Three fire engines and a tow truck were seen surrounding a Ryanair plane, which social media users claimed was “blocking” the runway for some time after it landing.
This forced other planes to divert – some to Manchester, and others to Liverpool.
Ryan air flight. Sat on runway after heavy landing at Leeds Bradford Airport. Emergency Vehicles attending. Other flights diverted pic.twitter.com/ymnmDCBCCn
— Dave Lindsay (@legger2011) June 5, 2022
In addition to this, the 12.15pm Ryanair flight to Faro, the 1.25pm Jet2 flight to Paris and the 1.30pm Flybe plane to Belfast City were all delayed.
Another social media user claimed that one of the plane’s tyres had “blown out”.
There's a @Ryanair plane blocking the run way at Leeds Bradford Airport. Tyre has blown out. My flight to Amsterdam was circling, but wasn't able to land. So has now diverted to Manchester to refuel.
— Matthew Beedham (@mattbeedham) June 5, 2022
It is understood that two buses arrived to safely take the passengers from the affected plane to the airport.
The flight in question is believed to be the 8.45am flight from Faro, Portugal.
In a social media post, one of the plane’s passengers described “drama” after a “very heavy landing” was followed by a “very abrupt stop”.
A bit of drama in our landing at Leeds Bradford Airport this morning.
— Sharon Slinger (@SlingerSharon) June 5, 2022
A very heavy landing followed by a very abrupt stop.
Unable to tow the plane back to the terminal, so getting onto buses on the runway. pic.twitter.com/D0AcB6u0am
Leeds Bradford Airport confirmed that the plane had ran into trouble as it was landing, adding that passenger safety was priority.
It also said that operations at the airport have since returned to normal following the incident.
In full, a Leeds Bradford Airport spokesperson said: “Our on-site fire operations attended the runway to support an inbound Ryanair flight experiencing difficulties upon landing.
"Passenger safety is our biggest priority and our team acted promptly to manage the incident.
"As part of this we took the decision to divert four flights to nearby airports while we assisted the flight.
"All passengers disembarked safely, and operations have returned to normal.”
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “This flight from Faro to Leeds (5 June) landed normally at Leeds Bradford Airport at 11.40am, where it then experienced a minor tyre issue on the runway.
"Passengers disembarked normally and were transported to the terminal by bus.
"The aircraft was towed on stand at 1.16pm and inspected by our engineers in line with normal procedures, in turn the runway was reopened at 1.23pm
"A replacement aircraft has been deployed for the remaining sectors.”
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