Flights heading to Manchester Airport forced to divert to Liverpool

Two flights reportedly diverted to Liverpool John Lennon Airport

Flights heading to Manchester Airport were diverted to Liverpool and Birmingham this evening (Monday, October 7) after a runway was forced to close. Operations teams had to shut down the 23R runway after a Ryanair flight had reportedly 'struck multiple geese' on its descent into Manchester, reports Manchester Evening News.

After landing, a clean up operation meant the runway had to be closed for around 20 minutes. The closure meant four flights due to land in Manchester instead had to divert to Liverpool and Birmingham.

It is understood this was due to the amount of fuel left in the aircraft, and because both take offs and landings having to operate from one runway for a short period. Multiple other flights were reportedly seen circling over Manchester and Lancashire during the incident, which closed the runway temporarily from 7.11pm to around 7.32pm.

According to the easyJet website, flight EZY7851 from Amsterdam, due to land in Manchester on Monday night, was diverted to Liverpool John Lennon after the runway closure. British Airways confirmed on its website that service BA1402 from London to Manchester diverted to Birmingham.

Jet2 flight LS852 from Funchal was diverted to Liverpool, landing at 7.36pm. A fourth, another Jet2 flight, LS938, also diverted from Paphos in Cyprus to Liverpool, landing at around 8pm. Both diversions were confirmed on the Jet2 website.

Manchester Airport confirmed that the runway was closed for a short period for the aircraft to be inspected and clean up operations to be carried out.