A British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Frankfurt has declared a mid-air emergency and is returning to the airport in the capital, sending emergency services rushing to the scene.
The flight departed London Heathrow at 7:45am and was due to arrive in the German city at 8:59am.
The plan flew south-westerly but turned back over Kent after the emergency occurred, touching down at 8.09am.
The nature of the emergency is not known at present.
Witnesses at London Heathrow have reported emergency services rushing to the scene.
One wrote on Twitter: “Something big kicking off at Heathrow Airport with multiple police, fire and ambulances all heading trackside!”
Today (Friday) is set to be Heathrow’s busiest day of the year as millions of people across the UK prepare to travel abroad to celebrate Christmas.
More than 250,000 people are expected to fly in and out of the airport as part of the six million journeys it will host this month.
A British Airways flight from London Heathrow has declared a mid-air emergency (Image: EXPRESS)
The airport estimates that around 6.5 million passengers will pass through its doors throughout the whole month of December, with flights heading to over 200 countries worldwide.
This comes after an expansion plan for Heathrow will now be delayed by more than a year and a third runway now will probably be completed between early 2028 and late 2029, the airport said.
The delay came after the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), said the airport could not increase its spending on early construction costs to ensure that the runway was built by the end of 2026, as it wanted.
The aviation regulator said it was in the best interests of consumers for Heathrow to spend more than £1.6billion on early consecution, instead of the £2.4billion the airport wanted to spend.
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