A MAJOR alert was sparked at Prestwick Airport after a plane lost contact with air traffic control.

Military aircraft were scrambled and emergency services called after the passenger jet suffered communication problems over Scotland.

The plane – which was travelling to Birmingham from Copenhagen in Denmark – was instructed to land at Prestwick and escorted into the airport by a RAF fighter jet.

The emergency response was declared when air traffic controllers lost communication with the Scandinavian Airlines plane at 9.30am.

Ambulance, fire crews and police rushing to the Ayrshire airport. It is understood that another plane scheduled to land in Prestwick at the time was diverted to Edinburgh.

But the Birmingham-bound plane, which was carrying 72 passengers, landed safety at Prestwick at around 10am.

The communication problem is thought to have been caused by a technical fault.

A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said the response was standard in cases when planes lose contact as there may have been a large scale emergency.

She added: "Police were alerted to an incident involving an aircraft which had lost communications around 9.30am today for a short period of time. Communication was soon regained and the aircraft has now landed safely."

A spokesman for Prestwick Airport said: "The emergency response is standard procedure. The aircraft landed safety and passengers will now make their onward journey to Birmingham."

An MOD spokesperson confirmed: "Typhoon aircraft from RAF Leuchars were launched to investigate a civilian aircraft which had lost radio contact with air traffic control, the aircraft re-established comms and landed safely at Prestwick."