A plane has been evacuated after being forced into an emergency landing following a reported bomb threat. A United Airlines flight – UA380 or UAL380 – from Dallas (DFW) to Chicago (ORD) was forced to divert to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL) on Sunday morning local time (November 16), where a passenger was subsequently arrested.

Airport director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge said the passengers were evacuated from the plane and were waiting in the “B” concourse. No injuries have been reported, she said. According to flight tracking data from Flightradar24, the flight left Chicago O’Hare International Airport at 6.57am local time, but landed at Lambert at around 8.40am. Sources told the Post-Dispatch that at some point, the man who was arrested said there was a bomb in a piece of his wife’s luggage. Bomb and arson unit personnel still were searching the aircraft as of 10.45am on Sunday, Ms Hamm-Niebruegge said.

The 26-year-old Boeing 737-700 – with 119 passengers and five crew onboard – took off from Dallas Airport’s runway 18L and climbed to 39,000 feet. 40 minutes into the flight, the pilots declared a general emergency (squawk 7700).

The flight began to descend and was vectored to St. Louis, where it landed on Runway 29. The aircraft vacated the runway but remained stationary on a taxiway for over two hours before travelling to the gate at the airport terminal.

The Express contacted United Airlines for comment who said: “United flight 380 from Dallas to Chicago landed safely in St. Louis to address a potential security concern. Law enforcement searched and cleared the aircraft. The flight will continue on to Chicago this afternoon.”

This incident comes just hours after a Jet2 plane circled around Merseyside for over an hour on Sunday afternoon. Flight LS1761 from Manchester Airport to Agadir in Morocco was seen circling multiple times around the St Helens and Rainford area.

The Boeing 737-800 (registration G-GDFU) stopped the climb at 6,000 feet to enter a holding pattern for two hours. According to the latest travel information from Jet2, the plane was expected to divert back to Manchester Airport and land there at approximately 2:10pm.

It was due to leave Manchester Airport again at 3.15pm and land in Morocco at around 8.10pm on Sunday.