Plane Intercepted By RAF Jets, Diverted From Heathrow To Stansted

A flight from Kenya was intercepted by RAF fighters and diverted to Stansted Airport after it was flagged for a "potential security threat" on board on Thursday.

The Kenyan Airways flight was due to land at Heathrow Airport from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. It was pictured being surrounded by armed police the moment it landed at Stansted.

"The aircraft was escorted to a remote parking stand with normal flight operations now continuing," said a London Stansted spokeswoman. However, it was later established that there was nothing of concern, and the plane was handed back to the airport authorities.

An image from the flight went viral on social media, showing an armed officer on board as well. Other images show a number of emergency response vehicles at the site, per The Guardian.

A woman who was onboard the plane in question also posted a statement on Facebook detailing the incident.

"On flight this morning from Nairobi to London Heathrow 45 minutes before we were due to land we were told we [have] been diverted to Stansted[.] [W]hen we arrived in Stansted loads of police cars," it read.

"We've been surrounded by all the police. [They have] all got guns all dressed in black and are [IDing] us. Captain hasn't even said anything."

The Ministry of Defence later said that the RAF jets were launched "as a precaution this afternoon to investigate a civilian aircraft which was approaching the UK". It "remained in contact with air traffic controllers throughout and was escorted to Stansted Airport, where it landed safely."

This comes months after an EasyJet flight from London Stansted to Edinburgh was forced to land in Liverpool due to a "medical emergency".

The EZY312 flight from London Stansted, which departed at around 5:20 p.m. on July 30, suddenly diverted to Liverpool John Lennon while flying over the Peak District. An EasyJet spokesman later confirmed that the plane had been diverted due to a "medical emergency".

Earlier this year, a UK carrier was forced to make an emergency landing at Manchester Airport due to "extraordinary circumstances". An EasyJet flight travelling from Liverpool to Antalya in Turkey was forced to make an abrupt U-turn to Manchester Airport because of a bird strike.

In August this year, a UK-based low-cost airline, Jet2, was forced to make an emergency landing after it nearly "ran out of fuel".

The incident occurred on August 27 when a Jet2 flight from Scotland made an emergency landing in Spain. Flight LS-189, operating on a Boeing 737 aircraft, flew from Glasgow Airport and issued a "fuel Mayday" before making an emergency priority landing at Palma de Mallorca Airport.