British Airways flight forced into dramatic landing at London City airport after passengers smelt smoke
The aircraft had taken off from Rotterdam and landed at 12.35pm to be met by fire crews at London City Airport
A BRITISH Airways flight was forced into a dramatic emergency landing today after people on board smelt smoke.
Emergency services rushed to meet Flight BA4454 after the pilot sent out an urgent alert to ground control.
The 98-seater Embraer 190 had taken off from Rotterdam and landed at 12.35pm to be met by fire crews.
British Airways confirmed this evening they were inspecting the aircraft to try and work out what had happened.
A spokesman told The Sun: "A smokey smell was reportedly detected on board and as we take the safety and security of our customers and crew so seriously, the captain decided to declare an emergency landing.
"Upon inspection no traces of smoke were found and our engineers on the ground are investigating the incident.
"Our flight landed safely and was met by the emergency services as a precaution. The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority, and our engineers are currently inspecting the aircraft."
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The trip from Rotterdam only takes 50 minutes and is described as a "normal passenger" service.
One airport visitor was so alarmed by the emergency services he took to Twitter.
He said: "@LondonCity Air what's happening? Lots of fire engines and ambulances lined up on the runway!"
London City Airport today said everyone had got off safely without any problem.
A spokesman said: "British Airways flight BA4454 from Rotterdam landed safely at London City Airport at approximately 12.35pm this afternoon after the pilot declared an emergency.
"London City Airport fire crew were on standby to meet the aircraft as a precaution. All passengers and crew disembarked safely."
Earlier this week, a British Airways business class plane was left stranded in Ireland after engineers downloaded the wrong map.
Bungling BA engineers assumed the New York-bound BA1 flight was headed for Europe as it was a small A318 Airbus.
But the plane was actually the all-business London City – JFK service that runs once a day.
It is the only A318 that makes the transatlantic crossing.
The flight stops in Ireland to fuel up and for passengers to pre-clear US immigration before heading on to New York.
But pilots stopped off in Shannon, Ireland and realised only Europe maps had been loaded on the aircraft.
Crew tried to download the correct mapping data but were unable to, leaving a couple of dozen passengers stranded in Shannon.
British Airways put the passengers up in a hotel overnight and it eventually set off the next day.
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