Airbus Beluga makes emergency landing at Liverpool Airport after 'problem with its flaps'

An Airbus plane has made an emergency landing at Liverpool airport.

The aircraft, an Airbus A300 - known as a Beluga due to its unusual shape- was on its way to Broughton in North Wales, but was forced to make an emergency landing at John Lennon airport when it was suspected there was a problem with its wing flaps.

The aircraft was not a passenger plane but one used to carry parts to and from Airbus’s site in Broughton, which is responsible for wing assembly of nearly all Airbus aircrafts.

The plane reportedly went into a holding pattern for around an hour before making the landing.

Airbus A300 was forced to make an emergency landing at John Lennon airport

A spokesperson for Liverpool John Lennon Airport confirmed that the plane had made an emergency landing at around 5:30pm this evening.

He said: “The plane was on its way to Broughton but had to make an emergency landing around 5:30pm due to a problem with its flaps.

“It chose to land at Liverpool as the runway is longer and it would be travelling faster than usual.

“Nobody was injured and the plane landed safely.”

Twitter user AviationUpClose, posted a video of the aircraft online, and said: “[The Problem] meant that the landing speed of the aircraft would have to be faster than normal so the pilot opted to land at Liverpool instead of Hawarden as the runway is longer.”