A plane bound for Aberdeen Airport has been forced to make an emergency landing.

The Eastern Airways plane was heading from Southampton to the Granite City when the pilot discovered a fault with an instrument panel in the cockpit.

The plane, which had 12 passengers and three crew on board, landed safely in Newcastle at 8.25am on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Eastern Airways said: “During flight between Southampton and Aberdeen, the captain of T3 4902 reported a fault relating to some of the cockpit instruments and as a precaution opted to divert to Newcastle Airport.

“The Jetstream 41 aircraft with 12 passengers and three crew on board landed safely in Newcastle at 8.25am.

“The aircraft then taxied to stand and passengers disembarked as normal via the aircraft steps.

“We have launched an investigation and engineers are inspecting the aircraft.

"Passengers have now departed on the next available flight to Aberdeen from Newcastle.

"We apologise to passengers for the inconvenience, however we will always err on the side of caution as safety is paramount."

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