Emergency services have rushed to Belfast City Airport this evening after a plane crash landed on the runway as Britain continues to be battered by 82mph winds.
The airport’s runway was closed this afternoon after an Aer Lingus plane suffered an emergency incident while performing a ‘hard’ landing during the stormy weather.
It is understood the plane’s nose gear collapsed as it landed, with pictures showing the aircraft on the side of a runway with two fire appliances positioned nearby.
A spokesperson for Belfast City Airport said there were four crew members and no passengers on board the aircraft when the incident happened. It is understood that no-one was seriously hurt.
The plane was a ‘positioning flight’ operated by Emerald Airlines on behalf of Aer Lingus and had flown from Edinburgh to Belfast at about 4pm.
As a result of the incident, a number of flights have been diverted to Belfast International Airport, including a British Airways flight from London City and an Aer Lingus flight from Leeds Bradford.
Delays are also now expected to flights due to arrive at Belfast City Airport.
It comes as around 100 flights were cancelled at Heathrow Airport yesterday after the Met Office covered the UK in a yellow alert signifying ‘a prolonged period of strong winds’.
Belfast City Airport’s also had to close their runway this afternoon after an Aer Lingus plane suffered an emergency incident while landing during strong winds
Warnings have been put in place for today with much of the UK covered in a yellow alert signifying ‘a prolonged period of strong winds’
The plane, which was being repositioned to the airport, saw its nose wheel collapse during the landing, as pictures showed its nose resting on the runway tarmac
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A spokesperson for Belfast City Airport said: ‘At around 4pm today, Sunday 22 December, an Aer Lingus regional flight, operated by Emerald Airlines, had an incident on landing at Belfast City Airport.
‘This was a positioning fight with no passengers but four crew members onboard.
‘The airport’s emergency procedures were enacted. The runway is currently closed and will be for the rest of the day. Passengers are asked to contact their airline.’
Millions of travellers have faced disruption during the busiest weekend of the year, as the 82mph gusts wreaked havoc on the UK’s roads, ferries and rail services.
The Met Office said yellow warnings for wind, which came into force at 7am on Saturday, are expected to remain in place until 9pm on Sunday.
London Heathrow made the decision to call off the flights while dozens of ferry routes in Scotland and Ireland are also no longer operating due to severe 80mph winds.
Of the Heathrow cancellations, eighty are on British Airways and involve short-haul domestic and European flights.
Hundreds of passengers are facing Christmas travel chaos as 90 flights from Heathrow Airport are cancelled and 200 more delayed amid weather warnings for strong wind
A Heathrow spokesperson said ‘a small number of flights’ have been cancelled on Saturday due to ‘strong winds and airspace restrictions’
Three round-trips to Amsterdam and Glasgow have also been grounded.
Other airlines affected are Aer Lingus; Dublin Eurowings; Cologne Iberia; Madrid KLM; Amsterdam Lufthansa; Frankfurt (two round-trips) SAS; Oslo Swiss; Zurich TAP; Lisbon Turkish Airlines; Istanbul Virgin Atlantic: Miami.
It comes as Heathrow Airport announced a ‘small number of flights’ had been stopped due to ‘strong winds and airspace restriction’ and British Airways said disruption was likely to continue throughout the weekend.
A spokesman for the airline said: ‘Due to adverse weather this weekend, restrictions have been put on the number of flights able to take off and land at Heathrow and therefore we’ve had to make a small number of cancellations.
‘We’re offering free flight changes for those customers booked on short-haul services who don’t wish to travel this weekend, and we will be offering rebooking and refund options as always to those whose journeys are disrupted as a result of the restrictions.
‘While the vast majority of our customers will travel as planned, our teams are working hard to help those who have been affected get their travel plans back on track at this important time of year.’
Brits in the highlighted areas have been told they can expect delays to road, rail, air and ferry transport.
Currently, 33 flights from the west London airport have been axed today, and another 58 tomorrow.
Queues on the A102 Blackwall Tunnel approach in Greenwich South East London as the Christmas getaway begins
Passengers at London Euston station awaiting to leave London this morning
Long delays at the Port of Dover saw holidaymakers in long queues as they tried to board the ferry for the Christmas getaway
Showers could turn to several centimetres of snow on the hills in the north west of Scotland from Saturday evening into Sunday, the Met Office warned. Picture: People in the snow in Edinburgh, Scotland
Stefan Donnelly, 35, had travelled from London to Scotland where he discovered his ferry from Cairnryan to Larne had been cancelled.
Mr Donnelly had planned to travel at 8pm on Saturday but has managed to rebook onto the 8pm sailing on Sunday.
The marketing manager, who is travelling home to Northern Ireland for Christmas, said communication from P&O Ferries had been poor as he only discovered his sailing had been cancelled from social media.
‘I was on my way to Cairnryan yesterday and happened to check Twitter to discover my ferry was cancelled,’ Mr Donnelly said.
‘I stopped in Ayr and booked a night in a hotel there.
‘There wasn’t any communication from P&O, I didn’t get an email or a text message or anything.
‘I was on the phone for about an hour-and-a-half this morning but I eventually got through to someone.
‘They were saying on the Twitter side that the 8pm ferry I’m getting today was full but then they weren’t actually, and I’m traveling as a foot passenger, which makes it easier for (P&O).’
The strong winds will be more widespread on Sunday, meteorologists said.
The comments come as there could also be a short term loss of power and other services on top of journeys generally taking longer with the likelihood of this impacting some bus and train services.
So far this weekend, the strongest wind speed has been recorded at 82mph in Kirkwall on Orkney and the South Uist Range.
Met Office meteorologist Dan Stroud said that Sunday could see gusts of up to 75mph.
He said: ‘There will continue to be more challenging travel conditions, with coastal areas seeing around 50 to 60mph winds.
‘Extremely exposed coastal areas could see up to 70 or 75mph and parts of the west are expected to see 40 or 50mph.
‘In the evening we are expecting these to ease and gradually drop off.
‘My advice for people travelling today and tonight is to take it easy, particularly in the north and east. The main concern is that there’s the potential for icy patches in some areas.’
A yellow warning corresponds to a ‘medium likelihood and a low impact’.
‘Dangerous coastal conditions can be expected too, with large waves an additional hazard, especially in respect to causeways’ the Met Office warned. Strong winds and rain in West Bay, Dorset
Sleet, snow and hail has already fallen across large swathes of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland today – as well as heavy rainfall.
The delays and cancellations at Heathrow come after the airport had said earlier this week that it was bracing for the busiest Christmas period in history.
The airport said it was expecting the number of passengers travelling through its terminals on December 25 to be 21 per cent higher than on the same day a year ago.
Heathrow also predicted that the number of passengers for December will exceed the previous record of 6.7 million last year.
But air plane passengers are not the only ones bracing themselves for mayhem.
Drivers were warned that roads and public transport could be disrupted by the strong gusts, as 22.7 million motorists were expected to get away for Christmas yesterday.
Long delays at the Port of Dover saw holidaymakers in long queues as they tried to board the ferry for the Christmas getaway.
Meanwhile, passengers waited at St Pancras International station to get the Eurostar while others waited to board trains at Kings Cross Station for the festive season.
P&O Ferries say journeys between Larne and Cairnryan have been cancelled until at least 8pm today.
CalMac, which operates ferry services on Scotland’s west coast, said 29 of its 30 routes were either cancelled or affected by disruption.
Rail operator ScotRail announced that speed restrictions would be in place for part of the route between Glasgow and Oban/Mallaig, and the Inverness service to Kyle/Wick.
And the AA predicted 21.3 million drivers will hit the road on Sunday while 22.7 million had been expected on Saturday, slightly fewer than the 23.7 million on Friday which was expected to be the busiest day on the roads since the group’s records began in 2010.
A spokesman said ‘if the congestion wasn’t enough of a headache, the inclement weather could create the perfect storm’.
‘We advise those heading out to allow extra time to travel and increase the distance between themselves and other road users.’
The RAC estimated seven million leisure trips would be made on major roads during the weekend, which excludes everyday traffic.
It predicted that congestion hotspots will be on both directions of the M1 to Gatwick via the M25 and the M23; Liverpool to Chester on the M53; Oxford to the south coast via the A34 and the M3; the M25 to the south coast along the M3; and at the Taunton to Almondsbury Interchange in Bristol heading down the M5.
