A persistent pilot spent more than an hour circling over Teesside on Saturday after thick fog prevented them from landing – only to be diverted to Newcastle.

The KLM service from Amsterdam to Teesside had difficulty coming in to land due to heavy fog around the airfield on Saturday (January 21) morning.

The flight, which took off from Amsterdam shortly before 9am UK time, lined up with the runway at Teesside International Airport around an hour later.

The pilot managed to get the plane almost down to ground level before deciding to go around for another attempt.

Darlington and Stockton Times: The flight spent almost an hour and fifteen minutes circling over Teesside EIGHT times.The flight spent almost an hour and fifteen minutes circling over Teesside EIGHT times. (Image: FLIGHTRADAR24)

But the aircraft, an Embraer E175 which can seat around 80 passengers, then spent almost an hour and fifteen minutes – longer than it took to fly from Amsterdam to the North East – circling over Teesside EIGHT times waiting for the fog to clear.

Shortly after 11.10am, the plane was eventually diverted to Newcastle Airport, where it landed less than twenty minutes later, on the first attempt.

The flight, which had been scheduled to take just 56 minutes, took more than two-and-a-half hours in total.

Darlington and Stockton Times: KLMKLM (Image: PR)

It meant the service from Teesside Airport back to Amsterdam had to be cancelled.

The D&S has contacted KLM for a comment.