Delays after airport jet landing

The Tornado was recovered from the runway

Passengers are facing delays after an RAF jet made an emergency landing at Newcastle Airport after hitting a bird.

The Tornado, from RAF Marham in Norfolk, was diverted to the airport, where it landed on Tuesday evening and overshot the runway.

It was later removed from near the runway but some flights were still subject to delays on Wednesday morning.

A flight from Corfu had to be diverted to Manchester Airport with passengers taken by coach to Newcastle.

Two people were taken to hospital with minor injuries following the Newcastle incident, according to Northumbria Police.

All the team, including the fire service, pulled together in the way they should Graham Mason from Newcastle Airport

Ministry of Defence investigators will be probing whether the craft hit a bird or whether the bird became trapped inside the engine.

Graham Mason, a spokesman for Newcastle Airport, said: "The runway was closed for about 90 minutes and some flights had to be diverted to Manchester, Edinburgh and Durham Tees Valley airports.

"We have procedures in place to deal with these situations and I'm pleased to say they worked very well.

"The impact of the runway being closed was relatively limited because it was for a brief period of time, but we apologise to passengers who were affected.

"Generally it all resolved itself relatively quickly - all the team, including the fire service, pulled together in the way they should."

Another RAF Tornado, flying close to the first aircraft on Tuesday, also suffered a bird strike and requested permission to make an emergency landing at Durham Tees Valley airport.

However, it went on to land safely at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire.