Passengers arrive at Belfast airport despite disruption

Passengers travelling to Northern Ireland have been making their way home for Christmas despite disruption.

Stena Line has added an extra sailing, at 23:30 GMT, from both Belfast and Cairnryan on 24 December in an effort to alleviate the build-up of traffic at the ports.

Belfast City Airport reopened to flights on Monday, a day after its runway closed when a plane was damaged in a "hard landing".

The plane, operated by Emerald Airlines for Aer Lingus, had travelled from Edinburgh to Belfast with four crew and no passengers on board.

A number of flights had been cancelled on Monday morning, with routes affected including those to Birmingham, Leeds Bradford, and London City airports.

BBC News NI spoke to a number of people at Belfast City Airport on Tuesday morning as they prepared to spend Christmas in Northern Ireland.

Brian Cummings was waiting at the airport with his dog Charlie as his niece and nephew arrived from Southampton.

Brian's nephew, James Cummings, said he had been to Northern Ireland a number of times and that the people of Belfast made Christmas special.

"It is being around the people you love and the family that you have," he said.

"The journey here was very straightforward; it was very easy.

"I'm very happy to see Brian and Charlie; grateful we are getting a lift back home to see granny."

However, he said he hoped there were no travel hitches for his mother and father.

"Our mum was meant to be coming with us, but doggy care fell through, so she's driving all the way up to Scotland to get the ferry from Stranraer to Belfast later with the dog.

"My dad is joining us later, flying from London."

John Murray from Newtownards in County Down was reunited at the airport on Tuesday with Mark Fleming, who he played with in the youth team of west London football club Queens Park Rangers in the 1980s.

"We were at Loftus Road together back in 1986 for two or three years," Mr Murray told BBC News NI.

"We were footballers, and we have been friends ever since.

Mr Murray said he was preparing dinner for the pair on Boxing Day and hoped they would enjoy the experience of Christmas in Northern Ireland.

Mr Fleming said he was looking forward to "loads of food and loads of fun".

"I'm expecting to get spoilt by John, because I know what he is like—he's a spoiler, so we should have a good time," Mark added.

Sam Reid and his mother were due to fly home to Belfast from London City Airport on Sunday night.

As they were travelling to the airport, they heard the news that the airport had been closed.

Mr Reid told BBC News NI on Monday that they made their way to London City and were "expecting to be rerouted to Dublin or something a bit easier".

"We found out that wasn't going to happen," he said, adding that they were then put up in a hotel for the night before flying from Heathrow on Monday.

Arriving at Belfast City Airport, he said: "I need a good sleep and a good feed, and I'll be all good."

The aircraft had to be recovered from the runway after the emergency incident, which began at about 16:00 GMT on Sunday.

Pictures from the scene suggest the plane's nose wheel collapsed during landing, but no injuries were reported among the onboard crew.

The incident is being investigated by the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB).

The plane was a positioning flight. This is when nearly-empty planes are flown to the airport of its next flight without any passengers on board.

An airport spokesperson said: "Passengers impacted by Sunday's runway closure or those due to travel today should check the status of their flight with the airline before making their way to the airport."

• Latest flight updates from Belfast City Airport

Several other flights to and from the airport were either cancelled or diverted to Belfast International Airport or Dublin on Sunday evening.

There were more travel woes, with ferries between Northern Ireland and Scotland cancelled on Sunday between Larne and Cairnyran and Belfast and Cairnyran due to bad weather.

Stenaline reported one cancellation on Monday morning and a delay on its Cairnryan to Belfast service.

The closure of Holyhead port has caused major disruption to ferry passengers travelling from north Wales to Dublin.

A number of additional routes and services have since been put in place: Dublin to Liverpool, Dublin to Heysham, Dublin to Fishguard, and Belfast to Cairnryan.

Among the other passengers affected by flight diversions was Hilary Bratton, who had expected her flight from Leeds Bradford Airport to take under an hour on Sunday afternoon.

"During the flight the captain came on to say there was a problem at Belfast City," she told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme on Monday.

Ms Bratton explained the announcement came about 10 minutes before her plane was due to touch down, when the cabin crew were already seated for landing.

"It was very tense. We were just circling Belfast City for a long time, and to be honest, it was just very quiet... everybody was just a bit nervous," she said.

Her plane landed safely at Belfast International, but the airport already had a heavier than usual schedule.

"They weren't expecting us, so we then had to wait another 25 minutes before they would get the bus to get us off the plane into the terminal, and then it took another 25 minutes to get the luggage," she said.

Many people then had to start making arrangements to get back to their cars at Belfast City Airport.

Ms Bratton said her fellow passengers only realised what had happened to the Aer Lingus plane after they landed.

"When a couple of people brought it up on the phone, everybody was a bit shocked that there'd been quite a serious incident at the city airport," she added.

Wendy McGonagle, from Londonderry, was due to fly to Aberdeen on Sunday, but her flight to Scotland was cancelled.

She was going to see her grandson, who was born four weeks premature.

"I had surgery five weeks ago, so I had to wait to Friday for whether I could fly," she told BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show.

"My grandson is still in the special unit; he is not going to be home for Christmas, but as long as he keeps progressing, we hope it all will go well," she added.

Ms McGonagle described scenes at the airport as "chaotic", but she managed to book a flight for Monday.