One of the two runways at Manchester airport was closed on Tuesday evening after a van caught fire in a road tunnel under the landing strip.

Flights were moved to the airport’s second runway to escape the smoke, causing delays and diversions. A Manchester airport spokeswoman said seven flights had been diverted and there were delays for the “majority” of flights.

A spokeswoman for Cheshire police said a van had caught fire on Wilmslow Road, which passes under the runway. The blaze began at around 6pm, and firefighters took two hours to get it fully under control.

Witnesses described a huge explosion and smoke billowing out of the underpass, prompting cars to reverse out.

Engineer Dale Beardsall told the Manchester Evening News: “I was in the tunnel, a few cars in. There was a lot of smoke and all the traffic had stopped. A couple of guys ran through the tunnel, telling everybody to back out.

“The cars behind us made way for a middle lane so cars could get through and get out of the tunnel. I managed to back out of the tunnel in my car, but some people in cars in front had to get out of their cars and run on foot.”

All flights into the airport were temporarily diverted to runway two, but runway one was reopened shortly before 10pm. Earlier on Tuesday, flights to and from the airport had been disrupted by snowfall.

An airport spokeswoman said late on Tuesday: “There is a fire in the road tunnels that go underneath the runway. The fire brigade are on scene at the moment dealing with the fire but, due to the smoke, we’ve moved our operations from runway one to everything on runway two.

“We’re just waiting on updates from the fire service before we can assess when to reopen.”

She later said firefighters had put out the blaze.

Passengers have been advised to check the status of their flight with their airline.