Major disruption was reported at London Gatwick Airport on Friday afternoon after the pilots of a British Airways Boeing 777 rejected the takeoff as the plane was hurtling along the airport’s single runway.
The 25-year-old aircraft was due to depart for Vancouver at around 11:40 am when the pilots slammed on the brakes, stranding the plane on the runway as emergency services rushed to the scene.
London Gatwick has a single 3,316-metre primary runway and is one the busiest single-runway airports in the world. An adjacent taxiway can also be used as a runway if the primary runway is shut for maintenance, but in this situation, the taxiway was also taken out of action, effectively shutting Gatwick down.
A number of inbound flights were forced to quickly divert to alternative airports, with an Emirates Airbus A380 superjumbo, which had been due to land at Gatwick at around 12:30 pm, opting to divert to Brussels.
A spokesperson noted that the runway was only blocked for around 20 minutes, although that was enough time for delays to cascade to departing flights throughout Friday afternoon.
“Safety is our top priority and the dedicated airport fire service swiftly attended to support the aircraft. A number of flights were diverted,” the airport said in a short statement. “The runway is now open and operating as normal.”
British Airways said the ‘rejected takeoff’ was a precautionary measure due to an unspecified technical issue. “Safety is always our top priority and we apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused,” the airline said in a statement.
