Britain's Birmingham Airport runway temporarily closed following aircraft incident

LONDON -- Britain's Birmingham Airport confirmed on Wednesday that its runway has been temporarily closed following an aircraft incident. According to airport police, one person sustained minor injuries.

The emergency involved a small aircraft that carried out an emergency landing at approximately 1:40 pm local time.

Woodgate Aviation, owner of the plane, said in a statement that one of its Beechcraft fixed-wing aircraft had developed landing gear problems on the journey from Birmingham to Belfast.

"The aircraft returned to Birmingham and made an emergency landing and the main under-carriage collapsed on touch down," the company said.

The airport said that passengers already on site will continue to receive updates, while those scheduled to travel later in the day are advised to check the status of their flights before heading to the airport.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said in a statement that it is investigating the incident at Birmingham Airport. This incident comes on the heels of widespread flight disruptions across major British airports last week, which brought air traffic to a standstill.

Birmingham Airport is the seventh-largest airport in Britain, having handled approximately 11.5 million passengers in 2023, according to figures published on its official website.