Emergency landing Birmingham Airport: Boeing TUI flight from Cardiff Airport to Cyprus forced to divert following bird strike shortly after take-off
A TUI flight was forced to emergency land at a UK airport shortly after take-off.
The Tui flight from Cardiff Airport to Cyprus declared an emergency and was forced to divert to Birmingham following a bird strike shortly after take-off. The Boeing 737, flight number TOM 6754 , was bound for Paphos when the incident occurred at 4.30pm on Sunday.
Birmingham Airport was forced to suspend its operations while emergency services met the aircraft upon its arrival. The jet’s pilots circled Swansea Bay at approximately 3,000 feet (900m) before climbing up to 12,000 feet (3600m) and travelling towards the West Midlands to land.
Passengers and crew were safely disembarked after the aircraft burned fuel in a series of orbits before landing at 5.30pm. TUI confirmed that the diversion did not involve an engine fault however there was a bird strike after take-off from Cardiff Airport.
A TUI spokesperson confirmed the incident was not caused by engine failure. The diversion was carried out as a precaution.
A Birmingham Airport spokesperson said: “Birmingham Airport temporarily suspended operations at 5.12pm for approximately 30 minutes to accept a TUI inbound divert. In line with normal procedures the airport’s Fire Service met the aircraft on arrival. The aircraft landed safely and taxied to the apron.”