New Delhi
After a British Airways aircraft suffered technical faults upon landing at London Gatwick Airport, temporary closure of the single runway led to mayhem as nine airborne holding flights declared fuel emergencies shortly after midnight on Wednesday.
The crisis was kickstarted after the British Airways flight arriving from Spain landed at about 00:12 hours local time. After touchdown, the aircraft experienced technical fault, as described by the carrier, left it stranded on the runway, unable to approach a gate. Soon, in a precautionary move, rescue and firefighting vehicles were dispatched to attend to the stationary aircraft.
The stranded aircraft prevented arriving flights to land for over an hour, forcing flights approaching Gatwick into holding patterns.
As delays lengthened, nine inbound flights declared emergency by squawking 7700, a transponder code for emergency declaration which is equivalent to ‘May Day’, after their fuel reserves fell to critical levels. Another five flights were also later diverted to nearby airports.
An affected passenger wrote on social media “Still on the plane to see what’s happening next !! Hoping we can be flown back to Gatwick soon!It’s been a much longer flight from Tenerife than usual.”
According to flight tracking website Flightradar 24, the airport resumed normal operations at about 1:30 AM.