Holidaymakers had their flights delayed or cancelled at Leeds Bradford Airport on Sunday after a plane faced difficulty landing on the runway, with firefighters deployed to the scene. At around 2pm (June 5), Leeds Bradford plane spotters told Leeds Live that passengers on board a flight to Faro were escorted from the aircraft.
The Ryainair flight, which had initially landed normally at Leeds Bradford, experienced a 'minor tyre issue' on the runway'. The aircraft was towed on stand and inspected by engineers before the runway later reopened again.
Pictures from the scene showed a heavy fire service response, and crews remained at the site for a number of hours. Several flights were delayed, including the 12.15pm Ryanair flight to Faro, the 1.25pm Jet2 flight to Paris and then the 1.30pm FlyBe plane to Belfast City. Others were diverted, including an inbound Jet2 flight LS256 from Gerona which was sent to Manchester Airport due to the temporary closure of the runway.
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And among those cancelled included the Paris flight LS315 with Jet2 and the LS205 to Amsterdam, also with Jet2.
One individual told a reporter that the plane was "blocking" the runway for some time after it had landed, causing other planes to be diverted as fire crews remained on scene.
A statement from Leeds Bradford Airport 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 Ryainair spokesperson added: “This flight from Faro to Leeds (05 June) landed normally at Leeds Bradford Airport at 11.40 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 13:16 and inspected by our engineers in line with normal procedures, in turn the runway was reopened at 13:23. A replacement aircraft has been deployed for the remaining sectors.”
It comes as passengers reported long queues outside the airport again on Sunday morning ahead of the early departures. A spokesperson for Leeds Bradford Airport has advised passengers to arrive at the airport three hours before their trip.
They said: "We are currently anticipating longer queue times for our security process. We would recommend arriving no earlier than three hours before departure to allow suitable time for security screening."
Manchester Airport has also faced queues at bag drop off and security in recent weeks. The Manchester Evening News reported hour-long queues, heaps of abandoned bags at reclaim and cancelled flights at the last minute throughout last week.
