Liverpool FC owner’s jet involved in airport incident leading to day-long disruption

A private jet carrying the billionaire managing owner of Liverpool FC was responsible for closing the city’s airport.

Mike Gordon, president of US-based club owner Fenway Sports Group, was travelling to Liverpool from Bedford, Massachusetts, for a scheduled meeting with Reds’ boss Jurgen Klopp and club staff.

The jet carrying Mr Gordon and three crew landed at Liverpool John Lennon Airport shortly before 6am, but skidded off the runway, coming to a rest about 59 metres away.

It resulted in a number of flights being cancelled or diverted to Manchester, causing disruption for thousands of passengers.

A source at Liverpool FC confirmed Mr Gordon was on the flight and said: “He was not injured but would like to pass on his appreciation to the staff at Liverpool John Lennon Airport and the emergency services for their amazing work.”

A spokeswoman for the Malta-based charter company VistaJet, said: “VistaJet can confirm that one of its aircraft had a runway excursion upon landing at Liverpool John Lennon Airport earlier this morning.”

She added: “We are fully co-operating with the airport and relevant authorities as they investigate further.”

The Air Accident Investigation Branch had to examine the site of the incident before work to move the jet from the grass verge could begin in the early afternoon, using cranes and airbags.

Around 9,000 passengers were scheduled to pass through the airport yesterday.

The Liverpool ECHO reported a Liverpool FC source as saying: “He’ll be devastated it’s caused disruption to people’s travel plans.”

No-one was injured in the incident.

Immediately after the plane left the runway the rest of the morning’s flights from LJLA were cancelled and other were diverted to Manchester as airport staff started work to recover the plane and clear the runway.

An airport spokesman said: “We can confirm there was an incident at around 6am this morning when a private jet with three crew and one passenger on board came off the runway after landing

“There were no injuries and the runway is expected to be closed until this afternoon while the airport deals with the incident.

“Anyone travelling from the airport today is advised to contact their airline for the latest information.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and can assure customers we are doing all we can to resume services as quickly as possible.

“Further updates to follow.”

Liverpool players returned from their Champions League match with Red Bull Salzburg straight after their game last night, but fans scheduled to return to the airport throughout Wednesday faced delays and diversions.

Among services affected were regular flights to and from Belfast and the Isle of Man.

Budget carrier easyJet confirmed six of its early morning flights were cancelled and four flights re-routed to Manchester due to the runway closure.

“Customers on cancelled flights have been given the option of transferring their flight free of charge or receiving a refund,” the spokesperson said.

The airline said it was “doing everything possible to minimise the impact of the disruption for our customers”.

In a statement, an easyJet spokesman said: “EasyJet can confirm that some of its flights to and from Liverpool airport this morning are disrupted due to an incident with another airline that led to a closure of the runway. As a result, six flights have been cancelled and four flights have been re-routed to Manchester.

“Customers on cancelled flights have been given the option of transferring their flight free of charge or receiving a refund.

“We are doing everything possible to minimise the impact of the disruption for our customers and strongly advise that all customers due to fly with us to or from Liverpool this morning check the status of their flights on our Flight Tracker page.

“Although this is outside of easyJet’s control, we would like to apologise to passengers for any inconvenience.”

The airport re-opened this morning (December 12).

A spokesperson for Liverpool John Lennon Airport said: “We can confirm that normal operations have now resumed.

“Once again we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to passengers.”