Nine flights bound for London Gatwick declared an emergency 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.
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.
Aircraft were diverted to airports including London Luton, Stansted and Heathrow, as well as Birmingham.
An issue at Gatwick as nine (9) flights originally bound for the London airport are currently squawking 7700 (likely due to low fuel). We are working to learn more. https://t.co/HsHBhiVnxD pic.twitter.com/cHSUBcbZlv
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) July 14, 2026
A total of 14 flights were diverted or had to circle before landing before Gatwick reopened its runway at about 1.30am, Flightradar24 confirmed.
Nine declared a squawk 7700 which is the universal aviation transponder code used by pilots to signal a general in-flight emergency.
The BA2673 flight from Palma de Mallorca landed at 12.10am and was met with fire and ground vehicles on the runway.
One passenger travelling from Tenerife to Gatwick wrote on social media last night: “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.”
British Airways flight EFW7JD/BA2673, Palma de Mallorca-London Gatwick is shown to have a major issue on the runway at London Gatwick. As a result, 9 aircraft bound for Gatwick have squawked emergency code 7700, likely fuel emergencies to prioritize landings at other airports. pic.twitter.com/cgiv8Z9QVF
— William Petty (@WilliamP80326) July 14, 2026
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.”
Here’s a list of all the known flights which landed elsewhere:
• easyJet flight EZY89LE from Agadir diverted to London Luton
• easyJet fight EZY16VL from Valencia diverted to London Luton
• easyJet flight EZY24LT from Fuerteventura diverted to London Luton
