LONDON- United Kingdom, saw one of the country’s busiest airports shut down overnight after a single aircraft became stranded on its only active runway.
London Gatwick Airport (LGW) faced major disruption in the early hours of July 15 after a British Airways (BA) Airbus A320 arriving from Palma de Mallorca (PMI) came to a stop on the airport’s runway, prompting 9 inbound flights to declare emergencies using the Squawk 7700 transponder code.
The blockage forced 14 flights to divert to airports including London Luton (LTN), London Stansted (STN), Birmingham (BHX), Bristol (BRS), and London Heathrow (LHR), while emergency crews inspected the jet. Gatwick’s single active runway reopened once the aircraft was cleared.
London Gatwick Airport Runway Blocked
British Airways flight BA2673 was scheduled to land at approximately 11.50 PM before touching down in the early hours after departing the Spanish resort island. Flight tracking service Flightradar24 recorded the arrival as running behind its scheduled time.
The aircraft involved was a 25 year old Airbus A320 registered G-GATS. According to The Argus, the pilots informed ATC of an issue with the aircraft’s nose wheel and held over South East England while attempting to troubleshoot the problem before being cleared to land.
Emergency services met the aircraft on the runway as a precaution after reports of a technical fault. Crews did not record a Mayday or PAN distress call.
The aircraft was then unable to immediately vacate the runway, which left Gatwick, an airport that normally operates with a single active runway, effectively blocked to all inbound traffic.
The British Airways aircraft remained in position while an inspection took place. Once crews completed their checks and cleared the runway, normal operations resumed. British Airways later took the aircraft out of service and cancelled a planned round trip to Alicante, Spain, scheduled for Wednesday.
9 Flights Declared Emergency Squawk 7700
With the runway closed, several inbound aircraft were left holding above South East England. As fuel reserves fell during the extended holding, 9 flights transmitted Squawk 7700, the internationally recognized transponder code pilots use to alert air traffic control to a general emergency that requires priority handling.
Flightradar24 reported that 9 flights originally bound for the London airport were squawking 7700, most likely because of low fuel, and confirmed it was working to learn more.
The 9 aircraft that declared emergencies were British Airways flight BA2607 from Bari (BRI), British Airways flight BA2703 from Tenerife (TFS), easyJet (U2) flight U28704 from Agadir (AGA), easyJet flight U28012 from Valencia (VLC), easyJet flight U28042 from Fuerteventura (FUE), easyJet flight U28186 from Athens (ATH), easyJet flight U28330 from Rome (FCO), Jet2 (LS) flight LS3104 from Lanzarote (ACE), and TUI Airways (BY) flight BY4249 from Rhodes (RHO).
The aviation monitoring service, which tracks hundreds of thousands of flights daily, noted that a Squawk 7700 declaration is not uncommon on its own.
However, multiple aircraft transmitting the code at a single airport at the same time is highly unusual. The simultaneous cluster of emergency codes drew wide attention online, with aviation accounts describing the event as rare.
14 Flights Diverted Across Several Airports
As the runway remained unavailable, 14 flights were diverted away from Gatwick. The diversions were spread across several airports. Five flights landed at London Luton, 4 at London Stansted, 3 at Birmingham, one at Bristol, and one at London Heathrow, which was permitted to break its overnight curfew to accept the arrival.
The 9 aircraft that declared Squawk 7700 were the flights sent to Luton and Stansted. A Gatwick spokesperson confirmed that 11 of the 14 diverted flights later returned to Gatwick with their passengers on board.
Passengers on the diverted services faced hours of additional delay before reaching their final destinations.
Official Statements
A London Gatwick spokesperson addressed the incident directly. “Earlier this morning, the runway was closed for a short period due to a technical issue with an aircraft,” the spokesperson said.”
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.”
British Airways also responded to the reports. “Our flight landed safely and customers disembarked normally following reports of a technical fault with the aircraft,” a British Airways spokesperson said.
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