BRITISH Airways is laying on bigger planes today to help clear the backlog of Scottish travellers left stranded when all short-haul flights to and from Heathrow Airport were cancelled following an emergency landing.
Thousands of Scots had their bank holiday plans disrupted as almost 200 flights to and from Heathrow were cancelled because a flight to Oslo had been aborted after a technical fault.
Black smoke poured from one of the plane's engines and witnesses reported seeing flames as the BA plane returned to Heathrow and passengers used escape chutes to leave safely.
More than a dozen flights between Scottish cities and Heathrow were cancelled throughout yesterday afternoon, though services were back up and running by the evening.
Glaswegian singer Amy Macdonald was stuck in the travel chaos and tweeted "4 hour delay!?!?! NOOOOOO! Only Heathrow...", while other Scots took to social media to express their frustration about cancelled flights.
Last night a spokesman from Edinburgh Airport said British Airways would be putting on larger planes than normal to help clear the backlog of passengers.
He said: "We are not anticipating any major issues. It's been very well managed by BA in terms of organising, rerouting, rescheduling and refunding. But in order to minimise any delay BA will be putting on larger aircraft tomorrow."
A Glasgow airport spokesman also said BA would put on larger planes for flights from the city.
The disruptions followed dramatic scenes in London when the Norway-bound Airbus A319 was forced to return to Heathrow as onlookers reported an "almighty noise" and "incredible" scenes.
Clive Cook, who lives on the Heathrow flight path, said: "This plane was coming over and suddenly the tone of the engine changed dramatically, and I could almost say it sounded as if it was like a blowout, or an explosion.
"I'm absolutely certain that as it came through the clouds, and I looked up... the right engine was on fire, it wasn't smoking, it was actually on fire."
Another witness, named only as Jamie, was working in his garden near Stamford Bridge, Chelsea, when he saw the plane. "All of a sudden we heard this almighty noise. It was like a fire jet going over," he said.
A BA statement said the company was very sorry for the delays and added that passengers affected would be able to rebook and claim refunds.
l TWO men were being questioned by police last night after a passenger plane was diverted from Manchester to Stansted Airport.
Early indications were that there was a fight on board the Pakistan International Airlines flight and the incident was not terrorism-related.
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