A plane carrying the Arsenal women’s team back from their Champions League semi-final first leg with Wolfsburg rejected takeoff on the runway on Sunday evening.
The incident occurred at the Braunschweig Wolfsburg Airport following a birdstrike on runway 26, causing a loud bang on flight flight #HAT2771.
Flames immediately started to come out of the left engine of the Boeing 737-400 (reg. 9H-MPW), and the pilots on board quickly evacuated the passengers, including Arsenal’s first team squad, to safety.
Arsenal have released a statement confirming they returned home safely this morning.
The statement read: ‘Our aircraft developed a technical issue prior to take-off in Germany on Sunday evening.’