Fire engines rush to Gatwick Airport runway with flights diverted
Fire engines have rushed to attend an incident on Gatwick Airport’s runway which prevented planes from landing for a period this afternoon.
The airport said 11 flights were diverted away from the runway as emergency repairs were carried out.
A significant number of planes could be seen waiting to take off on the monitoring website FlightRadar24 earlier this afternoon, but the congestion appears to have eased after it reopened.
The website continues to show fire vehicles working in a corner of the main runway network.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, several people reported confusion over gates and being stuck on planes waiting to take off.
One flight, from Thessaloniki in Greece, was diverted to Heathrow and landed almost two hours after its scheduled arrival time.
A passenger wrote on social media: ‘Only one of three toilets working for nearly 200 people. BA please let us off the plane!’
A London Gatwick spokesperson said: ‘The main runway was closed for a short time today due to emergency repairs. 11 flights were diverted.’
They added: ‘The runway is now open and operating as normal.
‘Safety is our top priority and we apologise to passengers for any inconvenience.’
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