A man has been arrested on suspicion of making a hoax bomb threat after a passenger plane was escorted into Manchester Airport by RAF jets.
When the Airbus A330 plane landed it was immediately attended to by emergency services before the man was taken off by armed police.
Police have confirmed the man pulled from the flight has been arrested on suspicion of making a hoax bomb threat.
An RAF spokesman said later that the plane had landed safely and the incident was being handled by civilian authorities.
He said: “We can confirm that Typhoon aircraft were launched from RAF Coningsby in their quick reaction alert role this afternoon to investigate a civilian aircraft whose pilot had requested assistance.
“The aircraft was escorted to Manchester where it landed safely. This incident is now being handled by the civilian authorities.”
The bomb threat was allegedly made in an envelope which was passed to a crew member.
A statement from Qatar Airways said: “The crew onboard had received a threat about a possible device on board and Qatar Airways immediately took all the necessary precautions to alert British authorities.
“The crew is now fully assisting police at the airport with their inquiries.
“The safety and well-being of our passengers and crew is our top priority.
“As this is a matter of a police investigation, we cannot comment further at this time.”
The flight was carrying 269 passengers and 13 crew members, with many only aware of the incident after looking online as many people on the ground posted about the incident.
All passengers were escorted safely from the plane.
Being escorted in pic.twitter.com/oXwxmhNsjo
— Josh Hartley (@JoshHartley_) August 5, 2014
Qatar airlines flight just come past T2 at Manchester followed by a bunch of Emergency vehicles #ManchesterAirport pic.twitter.com/0MKvB5yyFa
— Becky Sullivan (@Beckiiki) August 5, 2014
Just seen a passenger plane being escorted by a fighter jet to Manchester airport pic.twitter.com/MQaVsl7Z53
— william service (@WilliamService) August 5, 2014
whoaaaa all the stuff about that Manchester plane is rly unnerving
— Hatty Watling (@hattylou98) August 5, 2014
Eek just seen a fighter jet escorting a plane in to land at Manchester Airport above our house
— Sleeper Editor (@sleepereditor) August 5, 2014
Image courtesy of Becky Sullivan, with thanks
