Chaos at UK airport as nine planes declare emergency after being prevented from landing

At least nine flights headed to Gatwick Airport from locations across Europe declared emergencies in the air after a British Airways plane was blocking the runway.

Flight number BA2673 was at a standstill when it landed at London Gatwick (LGW) after midnight on Wednesday (15 July).

Emergency services rushed to respond to the aircraft while flights in the air were forced to declare an emergency, likely due to low fuel, according to Flightradar24. A further five flights were also forced to travel to other airports.

"Our British Airways flight landed in Stansted instead of Gatwick," a passenger wrote online. "Still on the plane to see what’s happening next!! Hoping we can be flown back to Gatwick soon!"

Flightradar24 also tweeted at the time: "Flights bound for Gatwick still holding or diverting elsewhere at the moment, though the BA flight is now off the runway."

At least nine flights headed to Gatwick Airport had to land at another airport (Getty Stock Images)

More than one person said their phone was 'going crazy from all the alerts', as Irish journalist Shaun's Aviation said on X: "I originally thought this was interference like we saw back in 2024 over Russia, but 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."

British Airways' explanation of the event

A spokesperson for BA explained to LADbible that there was a 'technical' issue with the plane, saying: "Our flight landed safely and customers disembarked normally following reports of a technical fault with the aircraft."

Of the 14 flights, five landed at Luton, four landed at Stansted and one landed at London Heathrow.

Some flights were also diverted outside of London, with three landing at Birmingham Airport and one landing at Bristol Airport.

BA said there was a 'technical fault with the aircraft' (Getty Stock Images)

A London Gatwick spokesperson told LADbible: "Earlier this morning, the runway was closed for a short period due to a technical issue with an aircraft."

The spokesperson said ‘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,” they said.

Is Gatwick Airport now open?

Flightradar24 has confirmed that 'Gatwick Airport is back in operation following the earlier halt that resulted in multiple emergency diversions'.

The affected aircraft included easyJet flights U28704 from Agadir, U28012 from Valencia, U28042 from Fuerteventura, U28186 from Athens and U28330 from Rome; British Airways flights BA2607 from Bari and BA2703 from Tenerife; Jet2 flight LS3104 from Lanzarote; and TUI Airways flight BY4249 from Rhodes.

LADbible Group has contacted easyJet, TUI Airways and Jet2 for comment.