Plane crashes at Swiss airport in front of BA flight
Flights to and from Basel airport were halted for several hours yesterday after a light aircraft crashed as a British Airways’ plane was waiting to take off.
One person is believed to have died when the Piper PA-34 aircraft burst into flames after it crashed in heavy fog at Basel airport at 5.41 pm.
Reports said the private plane had aborted an attempted landing on the runway and instead flown around, before crashing.
The pilot of a British Airways’ Airbus A320 told the control tower he had seen the light aircraft cross his path, and the controller confirmed the aircraft was ‘flying very low’.
No-one on flight BA749, which was carrying Arsenal fans back from a game in Basel, was injured.
The main runway at Basel airport was closed until shortly after 9pm, causing several flights to be delayed while others were diverted to Zurich.
BA749 was forced to overnight in Switzerland and a return flight from Heathrow was cancelled.
In a statement, BA said: "We are looking after customers and re-booking them on to alternative flights."
EasyJet also warned passengers of delays to its flight from Basel to Gatwick last night.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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