A plane spotter could hardly believe what he was witnessing when an Aer Lingus flight landed heavily on Sunday at Belfast City Airport — skidding down the runway in a shower of sparks.

Emergency services rushed to the scene of a hard landing of an Aer Lingus plane at Belfast City Airport on Sunday. The landing gear on the twin-engine turboprop short haul craft appeared to have failed,

Runway closed and several flights redirected on Sunday after aircraft suffered a collapsed nose wheel on landing

Belfast City Airport has reopened to flights on Monday, a day after its runway closed when a plane was damaged in a "hard landing ", but some delays are expected. The Aer Lingus aircraft had to be recovered from the runway after the emergency incident which began at about 16:00 GMT on Sunday.

A plane’s nose wheel collapsed as it landed at Belfast City Airport because of poor weather. There were four crew and no passengers on board when the hard landing occurred on Sunday afternoon. It triggered emergency procedures at the airport and has forced the runway to close for the rest of the day.

All flights in and out of Belfast City Airport have been cancelled on Sunday evening after an Aer Lingus plane suffered an emergency incident while landing during strong winds. The plane had flown from Edinburgh to Belfast at about 16:00 GMT with four crew members but no passengers on board.

An Aer Lingus flight was involved in an incident as it landed at Belfast City Airport this afternoon, with the runway now closed and passengers urged to check with their airline