Bird strike forces Sumburgh flight to return to Aberdeen

A flight bound for Sumburgh Airport was forced to return to Aberdeen on Tuesday morning after striking a bird shortly after take-off.

There were 26 passengers and three crew on board the flight. The plane involved in the strike was due to operate the Sumburgh to Edinburgh flight after arriving in Shetland.

Delays were experienced as a result of the incident and a replacement aircraft was flown to Edinburgh to operate the northbound route.

A spokesperson for Loganair said: “A service en route to Shetland returned to Aberdeen Airport as a precautionary measure shortly after departure due to a suspected bird strike. The Saab 340 aircraft was inspected by a team of engineers and no damage was detected.

“The aircraft was scheduled to operate the Sumburgh-Edinburgh-Sumburgh services. A replacement aircraft was dispatched to Edinburgh to take over the Edinburgh-Sumburgh flight and then the return Sumburgh-Edinburgh flight, which was the means of delivering the majority of our customers as close as possible to their scheduled time.

“Loganair would like to apologise to passengers for the inconvenience caused by this short delay but stress the safety of our customers and crew is the airline’s number one priority.”