Birmingham Airport crash landing chaos continues as passengers face more delays

Birmingham Airportis still dealing with the knock‑on impact of an emergency landing that closed its runway on Wednesday afternoon.

At 1.40 pm a Beechcraft B200 Super King Air, with three people on board, began to experience issues with its landing gear. The pilot aborted the journey to Belfast and turned back to Birmingham for a bumpy landing, which saw it collapse onto its undercarriage on the tarmac.

Emergency services rushed to the scene, whisking the two crew members and one passenger away from the wreckage. Thankfully, they were not injured. The runway was immediately closed following the crash landing, leading to dozens of flights both to and from the airport being cancelled and delayed. Thousands of passengers in Birmingham, across the UK and internationally were disrupted. The incident at Birmingham came after a union in Spain announced its Ryanair workers would strike at 12 airports in the coming weeks.

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Newly emerged footage from the scene shows the white light aircraft collapsed on the runway, its nose tilted down towards the tarmac. It is surrounded by emergency service vehicles and personnel. The incident is now being investigated by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

Live departure and arrival boards highlight the knock‑on impact of the runway closure, which was only lifted at 8 pm last night, meaning six hours of the flight schedule were missed.

Delays this morning include a four‑hour wait for a TUI flight to Keffalinia, a three‑hour wait for Lanzarote and a three‑hour wait to Zakynthos. A handful of arrivals have also been bumped down the schedule. The 6am KLM flight to Amsterdam this morning was cancelled because the aircraft and crew could not reach Birmingham on Wednesday.

Diversions yesterday meant that several planes were in the wrong place, causing a headache for airline schedulers. Planes were diverted as far away as Liverpool, Cardiff, and Gatwick.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch says it is investigating the incident at Birmingham Airport. It said in a statement: “Following an incident involving a light aircraft at Birmingham Airport, the AAIB has deployed a team to the site to begin an investigation. A multi‑disciplinary team including inspectors with expertise in aircraft operations, engineering and recorded data have been deployed to the airport.”

The latest statement from Birmingham Airport came just before 8 pm last night. It read: “Following the aircraft incident today, the runway has reopened and operations have resumed. All passengers must check flight details with their airlines and follow advice issued by them. We understand the frustration and apologise for the disruption this has caused. Our teams have worked as quickly as possible, in line with strict protocols, which must be followed to ensure a safe reopening of the runway following a prolonged closure.”

A small silver lining for delayed passengers came in the form of a chilled pint. Organisers of a beer festival held next door to the airport offered those caught up in the chaos a free bev if they showed their boarding pass. “We hope everyone is ok at Birmingham International Airport. If you are stuck at the airport, come to the Great British Beer Festival next door at the NEC for a pint while you wait,” the organisers tweeted.