A “suspicious vehicle” was reported at Birmingham Airport in the United Kingdom, leading to an airport evacuation. “Once the police investigation is complete, operations will slowly return to normal. All passengers are advised to check with their airlines for the latest flight information,” an airport spokesperson said in a statement, adding that operations are expected to be delayed for the next few hours.
For several hours, passengers were not allowed to disembark from departing or landing flights, and all transport to the airport was halted, particularly buses and taxi services. “We apologize for any inconvenience or disruption, but as we work with our law enforcement partners, the safety of the public is our top priority,” an airport source was quoted as saying by the BBC.
The alert to the incident was given at 12:30pm and the evacuation began about an hour later, with police and firemen already on site. Police described the evacuation of all people at the airport as a “precautionary measure to ensure the safety of passengers and staff”. “West Midlands Police are dealing with an ongoing incident locally,” police said in a note shared on X (formerly Twitter). “Airport operations are affected and passengers should not go to the airport at this time.”
Birmingham Airport, in central England, is the seventh busiest airport in the United Kingdom: more than 11.5 million passengers passed through last year. This is the third such incident this year. In September, hundreds of passengers had to leave arrivals areas and several flights while police “investigated”. In April, several flights were delayed or canceled due to a security incident that turned out to be a “false alert.”
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