Major UK airport closed after 'incident' on runway

A major airport in Britain has been closed after a plane caught fire on the runway, prompting flights to be cancelled and delayed. Norwich Airport is expected to remain closied until 12.30pm after the small blaze broke out in its engine upon take off. Passengers are being urged to contact the airlines they are flying with before heading to the airport. There was a large emergency service presence on scene, witnesses said.

One holidaymaker told the Eastern Daily Press: "We could tell something was wrong. We heard 'crash! crash!' over the radios. We went outside to have a look. The propellers on the plane looked bent. It did not look like there was any landing gear down." Crews at the scene described the incident as "nothing major", with the East of England Ambulance service confirming no injuries and being stood down on its way to the airport. Norfolk Constabulary was also stood down, a spokesperson said.

A spokesman for Norwich Airport said: "We can confirm we are dealing with an incident involving a light aircraft which took place at 08:30 this morning.

"The runway is currently closed and is expected to reopen at 12:30 today. Passengers due to travel are advised to check with their airline for further details."

The list of departures on the airport's website shows one flight has been delayed and another cancelled.

A KLM flight to Amsterdam due to depart at 9.40am was subsequently cancelled, while a Loganair journey to Aberdeen has been delayed by three hours from 8.35am to 11.30am.

The remaining seven departures are all currently due to take off as scheduled.

In terms of arrivals, there has also been one cancellation and one delay.

Passengers on the TUI flight from Corfu will be delayed by about 15 minutes, as the arrival scheduled for 1.10pm has been pushed back to 1.26pm.

A KLM flight from Amsterdam, due to arrive at at 9.05am, was also cancelled this morning.

The seven other flights scheduled to arrive at Norwich Airport are all currently expected to go ahead as planned.