Image source, @SpursSingh

The company that owns the plane, Woodgate Aviation, has just put out a statement.

It says one of its Beechcraft fixed-wing aircraft developed landing gear problems on the journey to Belfast.

"The aircraft returned to Birmingham and made an emergency landing and the main under-carriage collapsed on touch down," the company says.

Two crew members and one passenger were onboard, the company says, but were not injured.

"The aircraft remains on the runway and Woodgate Aviation will be co-operating fully with Air Accident investigators and airport services."

It also pays tribute to the "professionalism of our colleagues and the emergency services".

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch says it is investigating the incident at Birmingham Airport earlier today.

It says: “Following an incident involving a light aircraft at Birmingham Airport, the AAIB has deployed a team to the site to begin an investigation.

"A multi-disciplinary team including inspectors with expertise in aircraft operations, engineering and recorded data have been deployed to the airport."

Image source, X

Here's a silver lining... while passengers wait at Birmingham Airport for updates, a beer festival is being held next door.

Its organisers have extended an offer to stranded passengers of a free beer if they show their boarding pass at the door.

"We hope everyone is ok at Birmingham International Airport," a post on X reads, external.

"If you are stuck at the airport, come to the Great British Beer Festival next door at the NEC for a pint while you wait."

The Great British Beer Festival is being held at the National Exhibition Centre, a short walk from the airport terminal.

Ten flights due to depart from Birmingham Airport today have been cancelled, according to information on its arrivals and departures board.

Four flights due to leave Birmingham have been delayed by more than five hours.

More than 20 flights due to land there have been diverted to other airports.

A handful of arrivals are delayed, including five flights by more than four hours.

Customers are advised to check the Birmingham Airport website, external for updates.

Many of the listed departures do not have information under the "status" section of the online information board, however.

We've just had an update from Birmingham Airport which says that operations are now "expected to remain suspended until at least 8pm".

The airport advises people to "speak to their airline" for further information.

Image source, Birmingham Airport

Hannah Karpel
Live reporter

“We’ve not been told anything. We found out about the incident on Facebook”, says Faye, who is travelling with her partner and four children, and waiting for news about their flight out of Birmingham Airport.

They were due to fly to Antalya in Turkey with Jet2 at 14:55 BST.

“It is so hot and busy” in the airport, she tells the BBC. The family have been given £10 per person for food and drinks by the airline, but Faye is remaining hopeful that their flight will still take off today.

“Someone I met has already had their flight to Greece cancelled and a friend of mine had her flight rescheduled for later tonight”.

“I’m a bag of nerves, I hate flying”, says Faye. But the family are playing games to keep themselves positive and occupied until they hear more.

Another headache for airlines, after last week's air traffic control outagepublished at 17:50 British Summer Time

17:50 BST

Simon Browning
Transport correspondent

This is the second Wednesday in a row that crisis management teams at UK airlines have had to jump into action, after last week's air traffic control outage.

The delays at Birmingham Airport, the seventh busiest in the UK, have come at the busiest time of the year for summer tourism. Airports and airlines are operating at their peak - with some areas at capacity.

That means incidents like today’s light air crash and subsequent runway closure will cause immediate delays and cancellations, because the sector runs on incredibly tight operating margins where there is little room to absorb a sudden shock like this.

It has a domino effect - planes that have been grounded at Birmingham will cause problems going into the evening, because they should already be in the air. Then, on arrival at their destination, those planes take the next set of passengers onwards again, in a complex aviation jigsaw of moving pieces.

If those planes are still on the ground at Birmingham, passengers waiting on those planes overseas will be facing disruption too.

Yet more headaches for those crisis management teams to deal with!

Tim Page
BBC West Midlands

We've heard more from Colin, a delayed passenger who told us a little earlier how he had seen the stricken plane from the airport terminal.

He says their estimated departure is now 20:00 BST - originally they had hoped they would leave by 18:00.

"Our flight should have left at 14:25 so we've a five-and-a-half hour delay," he tells me.

"We have had updates throughout and each time the departure time goes back an hour".

Passenger Matty Bennett is among a family group of eight, including his two-year-old daughter, who are waiting to fly to Cyprus.

He tells BBC Radio 5Live's Drive programme: "We got to the boarding port literally half an hour before we were due to fly [at about 14:30 BST], and the doors were shut and they just told us there was an emergency on the runway.

"About 10 minutes later we were told it would be about a four-hour delay".

He adds: "There have been five flights after us that have been cancelled and told to go home... looking at the flights, we're about the tenth one to fly, so we don't know if we're going to fly or not."

Image source, Reuters

As passengers await more information on delayed flights at Birmingham Airport, here's a quick summary:

• We don't know when the runway will reopen - after a small propeller plane made an emergency landing - which you can see - in the Midlands at about 13:40 BST
• One person suffered minor injuries, but the airport says all of those on board have now been discharged
• Passengers should check with their airline before heading to the airport
• Some Birmingham-bound flights have been diverted, including to Manchester and East Midlands Airports
• Our BBC Verify team has found that the plane issued a distress signal soon after take-off - it was heading to Belfast
• Meanwhile, passengers are telling us of a noisy and crowded terminal - you can get in touch and share your experiences with us

Manchester Airport has told the BBC that five flights due to land in Birmingham have been diverted there so far.

The spokesperson says there are no more flights immediately inbound, but it depends on how long Birmingham Airport is closed for.

Image source, AirTeamimages

The aircraft involved in this incident is a Beechcraft B200 Super King Air, a small, twin-engine propeller plane that's been in production since the 1970s.

We don't know much about the flight in question, but the same model of aircraft has been used for both civilian and military purposes, including by the RAF.

In the UK, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has used modified B200s for search-and-rescue missions, external at sea.

The aircraft typically seats up to nine people, and has a range of 1,800 nautical miles, according to charter companies that operate it, external.

Tim Page
BBC West Midlands

Ann and Colin Taylor from Stourbridge were due to fly to Sharm El-Sheik in Egypt with Tui at 14:30 BST.

They were originally told they might be delayed by five hours, Ann says, but had since been emailed to say the airline hoped to get them away earlier, by 18:00.

Colin adds that they can see the stricken plane from the terminal: "The aircraft is still in exactly the same position."

Emergency service vehicles are surrounding it, a fire engine and some smaller ones, but not much seems to be happening. It's only a light aircraft - you'd imagine they could move it fairly easily."

He tells the BBC that the terminal is very noisy and crowded with passengers waiting for flights to restart.

Image source, Colin Taylor

We've had a brief response from Birmingham Airport, after we asked its press office when the airport is likely to reopen.

"We are unable to provide a timeframe at this moment," they replied.

We'll keep you updated here with any developments.

In a fresh update, Birmingham Airport says its runway remains temporarily closed.

It adds that "all persons onboard the aircraft have been discharged by West Midlands Ambulance Service".

The airport apologises for the inconvenience caused to passengers, and advises them to check the status of their flight before heading to the airport.

Both check-in and security are temporarily closed for now, it adds.

Plane issued distress signal soon after take-off from Birminghampublished at 16:35 British Summer Time

16:35 BST

By Joshua Cheetham

We’re continuing to gather more information about why a light plane made an emergency landing at Birmingham Airport this afternoon, leading to the closure of the runway.

Tracking data on Flightradar24 shows that soon after take-off, the King Air aircraft involved transmitted a “7700” squawk code.

These are broadcast to tell air traffic control that there is an emergency and the aircraft needs priority handling.

It’s still unclear what happened that it had to make an emergency landing.

Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter

Image source, Jan Inger

The closure of Birmingham Airport has cause widespread disruption to peoples' holiday plans.

I've spoken to a Slovakian man living in Spain, Jan Inger, who was on a Ryanair flight from Murcia to Birmingham Airport.

He says his plane was about to land at Birmingham Airport, when he sensed things were "a bit strange. I could feel the plane was going down more quickly than usual, and then the captain said there was a problem."

The pilot then announced they were being diverted to East Midlands Airport in Nottingham.

Jan was supposed to meet his kids at Birmingham Airport, and together they had plans to fly on to Budapest.

"My kids are disappointed. I was flying to have a holiday with them," he says.

Jan is worried about getting his connecting flight this evening, and is now waiting with all the other stranded passengers at Nottingham Airport, to find out what happens next.

Birmingham Airport website is now back up and running.

Its departures board shows five flights with delays of about five hours.

There are at least three cancelled outbound flights.

Many of the listed departures do not have information under the "status" section of the online information board, however.

For arrivals, there are 10 inbound flights showing as diverted.

Image source, Birmingham Airport/BBC