‘Technical issue’ forces Blue Islands’ plane’s emergency landing

A passenger plane travelling from Birmingham to Jersey had to make an emergency landing shortly after take-off due to a “technical issue” with one of its two engines.

The Blue Islands plane, which typically has space for about 70 passengers, took off at 15:00 BST on Sunday but had to return to the airport, landing successfully in strong winds.

A Blue Islands spokesperson said the aircraft was being looked at by its engineers and said the safety of its passengers, crew and aircraft was its highest priority.

They added passengers who were on the flight on Sunday were provided with a hotel and hot meal, and would be travelling on a flight from Birmingham to Jersey later.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the airline said the plane’s crew followed standard operating procedure and passengers disembarked normally.

It said the flight’s crew received a cockpit indication of a “technical issue” and followed procedure in dealing with it shut down the engine as a precaution.

It said the engine “at no time stopped working in any uncontrolled way”.

A spokesperson added: “These procedures have an abundance of caution built into them to ensure passenger safety.”

A spokesperson for Birmingham Airport said one flight was diverted, but no other restrictions were placed on the runway as a result of the landing.