Belfast City Airport reopens after state of emergency

Belfast City Airport reopened to flights a day later on Monday When a plane was damaged in a “hard landing” its runway was closed.“, but some delays are expected.

The Aer Lingus plane had to be diverted from the runway after the emergency incident which began at around 16:00 GMT on Sunday.

The plane, operated by Emerald Airlines for Aer Lingus, had traveled from Edinburgh to Belfast with four crew members and no passengers.

Many flights were canceled on Monday morning, with routes including Birmingham, Leeds Bradford and London City airports affected.

Photographs from the scene show that the plane’s front wheel collapsed during landing, but no crew members were reported injured.

The incident is being investigated by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) which sent a team of inspectors to the spot.

An airport spokesperson said: “Passengers affected by the runway closure yesterday, or traveling today, should check their flight status with the airline before traveling to the airport.”

Several other flights to and from the airport were either canceled or diverted to Belfast International Airport or Dublin Airport on Sunday evening.

Ferries between Northern Ireland and Scotland Canceled on Sunday between Larne and Cairnryan and between Belfast and Cairnryan.

stanlin A cancellation and delay to the Cairnryan to Belfast service was reported on Monday morning.

Travel journalist Simon Calder said on Monday morning that although the runway at Belfast City Airport may be open again, flights are far from normal.

He told BBC News NI: “The Emerald Airlines fleet, which flies the majority of people to and from Belfast City Airport, has been reduced by one until the aircraft involved can be assessed and repaired. , By then it’s going to have an impact.”

Mr Calder said closure of holyhead port, Plus other ferry cancellations and the situation at Belfast City Airport means it’s a testing time for those traveling home for Christmas.

“Closing Holyhead to Dublin, which is by far the most important link between GB and the island of Ireland, has had a really serious impact,” he said.

“You needed everything to work really well to get from Larne, out of Belfast, to Cairnryan in south-west Scotland and we canceled almost all the ferries on those routes yesterday.

“As a result we are 40 hours away from Christmas Day and I fear, I hope I am wrong, that people will be stuck on the wrong side of the ocean, simply because there is no transport available.”

Among the passengers affected by the diversion was Hilary Bratton, who had expected her flight from Leeds Bradford Airport on Sunday afternoon to be delayed by less than an hour.

“During the flight the captain said there was a problem in Belfast City,” he told the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme.

“So we drove around the city of Belfast until they said we could turn into the international airport.”

Ms Bratton said the announcement came about 10 minutes before her plane was due to land, when the cabin crew were already seated for landing.

He said, “It was very stressful. We had been walking around the city of Belfast for a long time and to be honest it was very quiet… everyone was a bit nervous about what was going to happen.”

“In total we were in flight for an hour and 55 minutes.”

Their plane landed safely at Belfast International Airport, but there was already a longer schedule at that location than usual, so diverted passengers faced more delays.

“They weren’t expecting us, so we had to wait another 25 minutes before we got a bus to take us from the plane to the terminal, and then another 25 minutes to get our luggage.”

Many people then had to make arrangements to get back to their cars at Belfast City Airport.

Ms Bratton said her fellow passengers realized what had happened to the Aer Lingus plane only after they landed.

“When some people picked it up on the phone, everyone was a little shocked that quite a serious incident had happened at the city’s airport.”

Crews from Dublin Airport’s airspace operations team were deployed to Belfast on Sunday evening to help move the damaged aircraft.

They also brought aircraft recovery equipment, with a spokesperson for Dublin Airport Authority telling BBC News NI: “We are pleased to help our neighboring airport.”