The travel plans of thousands of passengers were disrupted, but the Airport stayed open late and airlines were hoping that most of the backlog would be cleared.
The Airport was closed just after 8.20 am after a Blue Islands ATR passenger aircraft, which had just arrived from Guernsey, suffered a mechanical failure with the left hand landing gear and it crashed down onto the runway.
The 40 passengers were evacuated and noone was seriously injured, but all emergency services were called and the plane remained in place for seven hours as an investigation began.
An Airport spokesman said that the aircraft was removed from the runway after an assessment of the damage and approval from the Air Accident Investigation Bureau.
‘Officers from the Air Accident Investigation Bureau arrived late on Saturday afternoon once the runway had reopened and an investigation is underway as to the cause of the incident,’ he added.
Air passengers were not alone in having their travel plans disrupted on Saturday. Ferries to and from the UK were cancelled because of strong winds.
