Military jets have escorted a Qatar Airways A330 passenger plane to Manchester Airport after reports of a possible device on board, following information received by the pilot.
Greater Manchester Police are treating it as a "full emergency" as they did not know "how genuine this threat is". All flights in and out of the airport have been temporarily suspended and planes are diverted to Leeds.
The Airbus A330 was escorted by a Typhoon from RAF Coningsby base in Lincolnshire.
There are reports that a passenger on flight QR23 at Manchester Airport has been arrested for making a hoax bomb threat!
The suspect being arrested on the plane
You just don't play with such things. He's probably going to be booked for some days or weeks, not counting a heavy fine on top of that.
And modern technology brings you this: thanks to on-board WiFi, passengers on the Qatar flight found out via Twitter that their plane was at risk and responded by posting pics from inside.
Meanwhile, Qatar Airways has put its statement about the events online.
Qatar Airways can confirm that flight QR23 from Doha to Manchester, an Airbus A330-300, landed safely at Manchester Airport ahead of its scheduled arrival time of 13:15. There were 269 passengers and 13 Qatar Airways crew on board.
The crew had received a threat about a possible device on board and #QatarAirways 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.
When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No-one has ever collided with the sky.
