A man has been arrested on suspicion of making a hoax bomb threat on board a plane that was escorted by military jets to Manchester Airport.
The plane is Qatar Airways flight QR23 from Doha to Manchester. It landed safely and an investigation into the emergency continues.
In a statement Qatar Airways said it was an Airbus A330-300.
"There were 269 passengers and 13 Qatar Airways crew on board. The crew onboard had received a threat about a possible device on board and Qatar Airways immediately took all the necessary precautions to alert British authorities".
"The crew is now fully assisting police at the airport with their inquiries".
"The safety and well-being of our passengers and crew is our top priority. As this is a matter of a police investigation, we cannot comment further at this time" it added.
Greater Manchester Police tweeted that officers were working to get other passengers off "as swiftly and safely as possible".
A man who was onboard the plane at @manairport has been arrested on suspicion of making a hoax bomb threat.
— G M Police (@gmpolice) August 5, 2014
"The plane has been moved to allow specialist officers who are dealing with the incident to board," said another tweet.
The airport is now returning to normal.
The pilot of the aircraft requested assistance after receiving information about a possible device on board.
Police say they are now treating it as an 'isolated incident'. The plane has been moved to allow specialist officers access to it.
The British Ministry of Defence has said in a statement "We can confirm that Typhoon aircraft were launched from RAF Coningsby in their quick reaction alert role this afternoon to investigate a civilian aircraft whose pilot had requested assistance".
"The aircraft was escorted to Manchester where it landed safely. This incident is now being handled by the civilian authorities" it added.
@NewstalkFM @manairport great photo from the plane pic.twitter.com/6IsCtHKzz6
— shane k (@fonforest) August 5, 2014
A photo of the fighter jet taken from aboard the Qatar Airways flight
Eye witness Paul Bell, who is heading for a holiday flight due to leave from the airport's Terminal 1, said his family saw the drama unfold as they were heading to the airport.
"We heard the fighter jet circling over Stockport and about 10 minutes later we saw the aircraft coming in. It was literally looping round the aeroplane".
It is thought that parts of the airport were evacuated for a time and most incoming flights diverted to Leeds-Bradford and other airports.
One of the passengers took footage of the plane being escorted down:
