Everything to know as Birmingham Airport closes its runway

Here’s what we know so far about the incident and the latest advice for passengers with flights.

The airport shared a statement on its official X (formerly Twitter) page: "Following an aircraft incident, the runway is temporarily closed. 

"We apologise for the inconvenience this will cause.

BHX Update - Runway Temporarily Closed pic.twitter.com/7sdsa6r03i

— Birmingham Airport (@bhx_official) August 6, 2025

"We will keep passengers already at the airport informed and those due to travel later today are advised to check the status of their flight before coming to the airport.

"We will continue to issue updates when we can."

What happened at Birmingham Airport today?

West Midlands Police said one person had suffered minor injuries after a small aircraft made an emergency landing at Birmingham Airport.

In a post on the Birmingham Airport Police X account, the force said: “We are at Birmingham Airport this afternoon after a small aircraft was involved in an emergency landing at around 1.40pm.

“Officers are among the emergency crews at the scene and one person has been reported to have minor injuries.

“The Civil Aviation Authority has been informed and the airport has suspended operations as an investigation is carried out.”

What to do if you have a flight this evening from Birmingham Airport

If you have flights booked from Birmingham Airport today, you might be wondering what to do.

The airport has issued advice for those with flights booked and has promised to keep passengers updated.

The airport has explained that passengers with flights booked this afternoon should “check the status of their flight before coming to the airport”.

Your rights if your flight is cancelled or delayed

If you are already at Birmingham Airport, you will be kept updated, it added.

The airport added to its X post: “We apologise for the inconvenience this will cause.”

ITVX reports that the runway could be closed until 6pm this evening.

Are flights still going ahead?

Birmingham Airport's runway is temporarily closed and as a result, all flights are on hold while the incident is dealt with.

The airport first shared details of the incident shortly after 2.40pm on Wednesday.

Details of what kind of aircraft was involved have not yet been disclosed.

According to Flight Radar, several planes are being diverted from Birmingham Airport to other airports within the UK.

The airline has urged passengers to check the status of their flights.

Is Birmingham Airport’s website down?

Several people are now struggling to access Birmingham Airport's website following the aircraft incident. 

You may receive an error message if you try to access the website.

Did Birmingham Airport have issues last week?

The closure of Birmingham Airport's runway comes just days after an issue at a NATS control centre in Swanwick, Hampshire, which affected the vast majority of England and Wales on Wednesday, July 30.

Birmingham Airport was among the UK airports affected by the issue.

A Government source said the failure lasted around 20 minutes, and the level of disruption was similar to a day with bad weather.

Recommended reading:

• How early should you arrive at Birmingham Airport before a flight?

• Live updates after 'aircraft incident' closes airport runway

• Birmingham Airport advice to passengers with flights booked as runway closes

More than 700,000 passengers suffered disruption when flights were grounded at UK airports in August 2023 when Nats suffered a technical glitch while processing a flight plan.

Aviation analytics company Cirium said 84 departures and 71 arrivals were cancelled to or from UK airports up to 10pm on Wednesday.

Several flights were diverted to other European airports.