A JET2 plane has been taken out of service after it was forced to divert from Leeds Bradford to Manchester following an alert about its wing flaps.

Passengers have described their terror as the flight from Heraklion landed "fast and hard" on the longer runway at Manchester.

The flight was descending towards Leeds Bradford last Thursday when there was a warning about its wing flaps, which help slow planes down on landing.

The pilot, who has been hailed a hero, is reported to have told passengers the plane needed to make an emergency landing at Manchester where the runway was longer. Passengers claimed they were told to brace for a hard landing and there were reports of fire engines waiting alongside the runway and spraying the aircraft's wheels to cool them down after touch down.

But this week Jet2 denied there had been an emergency landing at full speed.

A Jet2 spokesman said the flight had gone into a holding pattern on descent towards Leeds Bradford to allow an assessment of a "flap indication issue."

She said: "The decision was taken to divert into Manchester Airport as a precautionary measure due to it having a longer runway to facilitate a smooth landing. The aircraft landed safely and onward transport was arranged for our customers back to Leeds.

The spokesman later added: "The captain of Jet2.com flight LS466, received a flap indication alert, from the aircraft’s monitoring system, as the crew prepared to land at Leeds Bradford Airport. The aircraft went into a holding pattern for a few minutes, to allow the crew time to assess the situation and then landed safely, without incident.

"Our Engineering team are currently working closely with Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer, to resolve this issue as soon as possible and the aircraft is not operating today. The safety of our customers is always our number one priority and the aircraft will not re-enter service until the issue is understood, resolved and thoroughly tested."

Earlier this month a Jet2 flight from Faro to Leeds Bradford was forced to divert to Bordeaux after difficulties described as a "technical fault."

A cabin pressure failure, about an hour into the flight, meant the jet had to descend within minutes from 30,000 to 8,000 feet.

Oxygen masks came down as panic spread among the 200-plus passengers.

After that incident a Jet2 spokesman said: "The flight crew followed standard procedure and made a controlled descent before landing safely.

"We would like to emphasise that at no point was the safety of anyone on board compromised."