City Airport closed after problem with British Airways plane

A busy city airport had to be closed for nearly an hour today after a problem with a landing British Airways plane.

The BA8711 from Edinburgh suffered "a minor technical fault" on landing at London City Airport and could not clear the runway as normal.

BA said passengers disembarked normally and were taken to the terminal by coach.

The runway had to be closed from 8.30am to 9.25am, with two arriving Air France aircraft and two BA planes being diverted to other airports.

BA said: "We apologise to passengers for the delay. Safety is of paramount importance and at no time was this compromised."

London City Airport said the BA Embraer aircraft was towed to its stand and full operations had restarted following an inspection of the runway.