Leeds Bradford Airport: plane veers off runway whilst landing – all fights suspended

A TUI plane arriving from Corfu skid off the runway during a landing at Leeds Bradford Airport this afternoon (Friday, October 20th).

The aircraft arrived amid Storm Babet, with conditions of heavy rain and strong winds forcing it off the runway.

A spokesperson at the airport said, “We can confirm TUI flight TOM3551 arriving from Corfu at LBA this afternoon has moved off the runway while landing”.

The incident happened at around 13:50 with an aircraft capacity of 189 passengers.

The flight is now at a standstill on ‘boggy grassland’ leaving nearly two hundred passengers stranded.

A large emergency response has been undertaken with the attendance of West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue as well as the Yorkshire Ambulance Services’ Hazardous Area Response Team.

In a statement, West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “At this time, there are no reported injuries or fires” and that “remaining crews are now assisting in evacuating all persons from the aircraft to the terminal”.

Air traffic control has closed the runway after the incident after Yorkshire was hit by Storm Babet. With flights halted or diverted to other airports including Manchester.

TUI released a statement, saying “We are aware of an incident at Leeds Bradford Airport this afternoon, in which upon landing flight TOM2551 slightly veered off while turning into the taxiway”. Commenting that “there are no reported injuries, and our ground team are on hand to support passengers”.

Passengers have raised concern on social media, commenting on the incident.

Malcolm Fell wrote on Facebook posting photos from his passenger window, captioning: “Oops overshot runway at Leeds Bradford airport […] interesting landing greeted by fire engines and airport authorities […] going to be here for a while”.

Another passenger posted on X that “no one was hurt and everyone is fine”.

Fiona Marr witnessed the event from within the airport. She described it as a “hard landing.”

“Straight away there was a really loud alarm coming from the airport which I’ve not heard before”.