Passengers stranded across England after technical fault shuts runway and forces pilots to declare emergencies.
Hundreds of passengers faced hours of disruption after Gatwick Airport was thrown into chaos overnight when a technical fault left a British Airways aircraft stranded on the runway, forcing 14 flights to divert and prompting nine aircraft to declare in-flight emergencies.
The incident unfolded shortly before 1am after British Airways flight BA2673 landed safely but suffered what the airline described as a technical fault, temporarily closing Gatwick’s only runway.
As arriving aircraft circled with fuel running low, at least nine flights transmitted the emergency squawk code 7700, a general distress signal commonly used when crews require priority handling.
The affected flights had departed from destinations across Europe and North Africa, including Tenerife, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Valencia, Rhodes, Athens, Rome, Bari and Agadir.
With Gatwick unable to accept arrivals, pilots diverted to airports including London Stansted, London Luton, Birmingham, Bristol and Heathrow.
Aviation observers said the emergency declarations were likely linked to dwindling fuel reserves after extended holding patterns.
Irish aviation journalist Shaun’s Aviation wrote on social media: “These are in fact all emergencies due to low fuel on diversions away from London Gatwick, which is currently closed due to an aircraft disabled on the runway.
Early speculation suggested the British Airways aircraft had suffered a landing gear failure, but the airline said only that the aircraft experienced a technical fault after landing.
A British Airways spokeswoman said: “Our flight landed safely and customers disembarked normally following reports of a technical fault with the aircraft.”
Emergency services, including airport fire crews, attended the aircraft as a precaution.
The airline said the flight itself did not declare an emergency.
Among those affected were passengers aboard British Airways flight BA2703 from Tenerife, which landed at Stansted instead of Gatwick.
One traveller wrote: “Hoping we can be flown back to Gatwick soon. It’s been a much longer flight from Tenerife than usual.”
In total five flights were diverted to Luton, four to Stansted, three to Birmingham, one to Bristol and one to Heathrow.
Gatwick confirmed the runway reopened around 1am, with most diverted aircraft later returning to their intended destination.
A Gatwick Airport spokeswoman 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.”
The disruption serves as a reminder of how quickly a single aircraft incident can ripple across one of Britain’s busiest airports, leaving thousands of passengers facing unexpected delays and diversions.
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