All flights are on hold at Birmingham Airport (BHX) following an emergency landing that took place today, August 6. All passengers involved have been discharged, and the “aircraft incident” is currently under investigation.
What happened?
West Midlands Police has confirmed that around 1:40pm this afternoon, a small private aircraft required an emergency landing at Birmingham Airport. The aircraft has been identified as a Beech B200 Super King Air, belonging to Irish charter company, Woodgate Aviation.
According to flight data, the aircraft was due to fly back to Belfast but only a few minutes after departure, turned around and headed back to Birmingham Airport. The aircraft transmitted a 7700 squawk code which informed air traffic control that there was an emergency. However, the cause for the incident currently remains unknown.
Emergency services were on the scene, including firefighters from Bickenhill and Sutton Coldfield, and a team of paramedics from West Midlands Ambulance Service. Three people were assessed and discharged by parademics, with one having minor injuries.
As a result of the incident, Birmingham Airport has suspended operations with all flights on hold. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has also been informed about the occassion, and investigations are ongoing.
What next?
With investigations into the “aircraft incident” being carried out, Birmingham Airport’s runway remains closed. Both check-in and security at the airport have also been temporarily suspended.
Several flights have been diverted to East Midlands Airport, but the alternate airport has now stated that they are unable to take any further diverts without negatively impacting their standard operations.
Birmingham Airport has released a statement on X (previously Twitter), warning anticipating passengers to check for flight updates and apologising for delays. It reads:
“Following an aircraft incident, the runway is temporarily closed.
We apologise for the inconvenience this will cause.
We will keep passengers already at the airport informed and those due to travel later today are being advised to check the status of their flight before coming to the airport.
We will continue to issue updates when we can.”
This unfortunate incident comes a week after Birmingham Airport announced their plans to improve customer experience through terminal investments and lounge improvements for those travelling this summer.
Have you or anyone you know been affected by Birmingham Airport’s runway closure? Let us know.
