Thousands of passengers faced travel disruption after all flights were suspended from Birmingham Airport on Wednesday due to an aircraft incident. The incident involved a light aircraft whose landing gear failed to deploy as it attempted to travel to Belfast around 1pm.
The aircraft was a Beechcraft B200 Super King Air twin turboprop, owned by Woodgate Aviation. It took off at 1.16pm, climbed to 5,750 feet, and entered a holding pattern before overflying the runway at 300 feet. The main undercarriage collapsed on touchdown, but the two crew members and one passenger on board were uninjured, according to Woodgate Aviation. West Midlands Ambulance Service confirmed three people were treated and discharged at the scene.
Birmingham Airport resumed operations and reopened its runway around 8pm, but passengers continued to face delays due to diverted and cancelled flights. The airport, the UK's seventh busiest, saw a 12% increase in passenger numbers in 2024 to 12.85 million and expects its busiest ever summer.
Incoming flights were diverted to alternative airports, including an Aer Lingus Regional flight from Belfast City that turned back. The Brussels Airlines flight from the Belgian capital was cancelled, along with the return leg. Birmingham Airport's website briefly went down but has since been restored.
The airport operator apologised for the disruption and advised passengers to check flight details with their airlines. Woodgate Aviation said it would cooperate fully with Air Accident investigators.
