Both runways had to temporarily closed at Ronaldsway Airport on Sunday afternoon following a light aircraft incident.

The incident occurred during a routine landing of a private flight, where the aircraft’s nose wheel collapsed and brought the front of the plane down, causing damage.

The aircraft came to a stop on the intersection of both of Ronaldsway’s runways, taking them both out of action.

At 1.38pm, Isle of Man Airport released a statement saying that both runways were closed, before a further update at 2.46pm stated that the runways were back in operation.

Flights to Edinburgh were cancelled, while further flights to Liverpool, Manchester and London City were significantly delayed.

Describing why the runway had to be closed, a spokesperson from Isle of Man Airport said: ‘The first reason is that after any incident like this the Aircraft Accident Investigations Branch (AAIB) needs to be informed and will carry out an initial investigation.

‘During this time the runway is needed to be kept sterile in case the AAIB needs to come and fully investigate. Fortunately, the runway was only sterilised for a short time and the AAIB investigation could be carried out remotely.

‘The second reason is that our airport teams need to rescue and then recover the aircraft far enough away from the runway that it won’t interfere with the safe operation of the runway.

‘Once that has been done the runway then needs to be cleared of any debris from the incident. Then a full runway inspection needs to be done to ensure that there is no damage. In this case both runways were inspected.

‘Once that is complete then the runway can be re opened for traffic following the normal procedures.’