Flights in and out of Stansted were temporarily suspended last night after two fighter jets were scrambled to accompany a private jet which had lost contact with air traffic control.
The military jets were deployed to accompany the US-registered Gulfstream IV jet, with three people on board.
Essex police said all three were spoken to on landing and it was established that everything was in order.
A spokesman for Stansted said flights were only disrupted for around 15 minutes and then flight operations were soon back to normal.
A Ryanair flight from Alicante was diverted to Luton.
The incident caused concern among residents in local towns who heard a loud noise and reported that their windows had rattled.
Some turned to Twitter, saying they had heard an explosion and had seen the fighter jets.
