FOUR flights were diverted from Leeds Bradford Airport and the on-site fire operations team was called after a plane had difficulty 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 a while after landing.
This forced other planes to divert, some to Manchester and some to Liverpool.
Ryan Air flight. He sat on the runway after a hard landing at Leeds Bradford Airport. Emergency vehicles that attend. Other diverted flights pic.twitter.com/ymnmDBCCCn
– Dave Lindsay (@ legger2011) June 5, 2022
In addition, the Ryanair flight at 12.15 in Faro, the Jet2 flight at 13.25 in Paris and the Flybe plane in Belfast at 13.30 were delayed.
Another social media user claimed that one of the plane’s tires had been “blown up”.
There is a @Ryanair plane blocking the runway at Leeds Bradford Airport. The tire has exploded. My flight to Amsterdam was spinning, but I couldn’t land. So now he has been diverted to Manchester to refuel.
– Matthew Beedham (mattbeedham) June 5, 2022
It is understood that two buses arrived to take the passengers of the affected plane to the airport safely.
The flight in question is believed to be the 8:45 flight from Faro, Portugal.
In a post on social media, one of the plane’s passengers described “drama” after a “very strong landing” followed by a “very abrupt stop.”
A bit of drama on our landing at Leeds Bradford Airport this morning. A very strong landing followed by a very abrupt stop. We can’t tow the plane back to the terminal, so we get on the buses on the runway. pic.twitter.com/D0AcB6u0am
– Sharon Slinger (@SlingerSharon) June 5, 2022
Leeds Bradford Airport confirmed that the plane had problems when it was landing, adding that passenger safety was a priority.
He also said that operations at the airport have returned to normal after the incident.
In all, a spokesman for Leeds Bradford Airport said: “Our on-site fire operations attended the runway to support an incoming Ryanair flight which was having difficulty landing.
“Passenger safety is our top priority and our team acted quickly to handle the incident.
“As part of that, we made the decision to divert four flights to nearby airports while we were on the flight.
“All passengers disembarked safely and operations have returned to normal.”
A Ryanair spokesman said: “This flight from Faro to Leeds (June 5) landed normally at Leeds Bradford Airport at 11.40am, where it then experienced a small tire problem on the runway.
“The passengers disembarked normally and were transported to the terminal by bus.
“The plane was towed to the stand at 13.16 and inspected by our engineers according to the usual procedures, in turn the runway reopened at 13.23.
“A replacement aircraft has been deployed for the remaining sectors.”