Nine flights bound for London Gatwick were diverted after a sudden runway closure caused major disruption on Wednesday. Hundreds of passengers were affected as aircraft preparing to land at the UK's second-busiest airport were forced to divert or enter holding patterns.
Cause of the Disruption
It is understood a British Airways flight from Palma de Mallorca blocked the runway, forcing nine inbound aircraft to declare an emergency before being held or diverted to other airports. The affected flights came from popular holiday destinations such as Tenerife, Valencia and Lanzarote, as well as Rhodes and Athens in Greece, Bari and Rome in Italy, and Agadir in Morocco.
Diversion and Impact
Aircraft were diverted to airports including London Luton, Stansted and Heathrow, as well as Birmingham. A total of 14 flights were diverted before Gatwick reopened its runway at about 1.30am, Flightradar24 confirmed. One passenger travelling from Tenerife to Gatwick wrote on social media: “Still on the plane to see what’s happening next !! Hoping we can be flown back to Gatwick soon! It’s been much longer flight from Tenerife than usual.”
Airport Response
The British Airways flight was removed from the runway, but flights continued to be rerouted for some time while emergency services were still on the scene. Gatwick Airport later confirmed the closure was due to a technical issue with the aircraft. A spokesperson for the airport said: “Earlier this morning, the runway was closed for a short period due to a technical issue with an aircraft. As a result, a small number of flights were diverted, with the majority later returning to London Gatwick. As always, safety and security is our number one priority.”
