Travel chaos after airport closes due to damaged plane

All flights were put on hold early yesterday morning as staff worked to unload cargo from the disabled plane, which had come to a stop at the intersection of the airport’s two runways.

However, by 10.30am flights had started taking off and arriving again, with planes using a reduced section of the main runway.

The closure resulted in the cancellation of 10 flights – five inbound, and five outbound to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Bristol and Luton.

It directly impacted around 1,300 passengers.

Many other passengers were hit by knock-on delays as the disruption continued throughout the day.

But yesterday afternoon, an airport spokesperson added: “There have been no further cancellations since this morning and there are none forecast for this evening.

“Things are slowly getting back to normal. Passengers can expect some knock-on disruption, but at this point there are no significant delays.”

A team from the Air Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB) arrived at the airport yesterday afternoon to inspect the damaged aircraft.

The disabled plane, which landed shortly before 6am yesterday, was eventually towed off the runway at 6.30pm.

The spokesperson said the aircraft had sustained damage to its undercarriage, including burst tyres.

She added: “This happened shortly before 6am, just before our first scheduled departures were due to take off.

“The plane came to a stop at the intersection of the two runways, effectively blocking both.

“It really was a case of the worst time and worst place for this incident to happen.

“Thankfully planes have been able to operate using a reduced length of our main runway, so we have been able to get flights in and out.”

There were lengthy queues in the terminal on Tuesday morning, as passengers checked for updates.

According to BBC News NI, June Stobey from Newtownabbey arrived at the airport at 6:15am, having planned a birthday treat trip to Glasgow with her son.

“We were travelling Tuesday morning and coming back on Wednesday afternoon but our flight has been cancelled until 5.45pm,” she told the BBC.

“He was looking forward to it but he’s not willing to move from here until we get on the plane.”