The passenger plane made an unscheduled landing at London’s Stansted Airport at around 10.15am. The aircraft was escorted by two RAF Typhoon jets. An RAF spokesman said: “The RAF can confirm Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon aircraft were launched this morning from RAF Coningsby to intercept a civilian aircraft.

“The aircraft was safely escorted to Stansted Airport. The Typhoon aircraft were authorised to transit at supersonic speed for operational reasons; any inconvenience caused to local residents is regretted.”

Air India said that Flight AI191, from Mumbai in India to Newark in the US, made the diversion due to a “bomb threat”.

Essex Police confirmed its officers attended the airport, which was closed.

They tweeted: “An aircraft was diverted to #Stansted Airport at around 9.50am today following reports of a security alert.

“The plane is currently at the airport and officers are making enquiries.”

The airport was reopened just before 11am.

A statement from Stansted Airport said said: “An Air India Boeing 777 diverted into London Stansted Airport at approximately 10.15hrs and landed safely with Essex Police in attendance.

“It is parked on an isolated stand away from the normal airport operations.

“Our runway has now re-opened and is fully operational.

“We are very sorry for any delays and disruption caused by the incident, but our first priority is always the safety of passengers and staff. Thank you for your patience.”

The RAF jets caused a sonic boom over Derby, with concerned residents taking to social media to share their experiences.

One tweeted: “Loud bang over Derby, anyone know what it was?”

Another said: “Sounded like an explosion, heard and felt it in Alvaston, scary stuff.”

A third wrote: “Anyone in #derby feel that bang/explosion?”

Another said: “Anyone else hear/feel a huge explosion and loud bang between notts and derby area? The whole road was outside looking to see what it was..”

One more added: “Anyone else in derby, house just shake because of this massive random bang.”

Derbyshire Police confirmed that the noise was a sonic boom caused by RAF jets.

They said on Twitter: “The recent loud bang heard over Derbyshire was as a result of a RAF jet passing over the county causing a sonic boom.”

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