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Thousands’ holidays in disarray as Gatwick Airport temporarily suspends all flights after plane stalls on runway due to hot brakes

Posted on by Dsen .N
Thousands’ holidays in disarray as Gatwick Airport temporarily suspends all flights after plane stalls on runway due to hot brakes

Author: Eirian Jane Prosser

13:31 June 28, 2024, updated 17:02 June 28, 2024

All flights were temporarily suspended at Gatwick Airport this afternoon after a British Airways plane was forced to make an emergency stop on the runway.

The Boeing 777 was seen blocking the take-off of all other flights, causing travel chaos for thousands of British holidaymakers.

Video footage from passengers on board the plane shows fire trucks approaching the stationary plane and passengers being told the takeoff had been “aborted.”

Flight G-VIIT BA2279 was scheduled to depart for Vancouver this afternoon before it was forced into a “high-speed emergency stop.”

An airport statement said the plane was abandoned “due to an interruption in the operation of the departing aircraft.”

All flights were temporarily suspended at Gatwick Airport this afternoon after a British Airways plane was forced to make an emergency stop on the runway.
According to travel expert Simon Calder, at least 12 flights were diverted, including an Emirates A380 flight from Dubai which had to land in Brussels instead
Video footage taken of passengers on board the plane shows fire engines approaching the stationary vehicle and passengers were told the take-off had been ‘aborted’

According to travel expert Simon Calder, at least 12 flights were diverted, including an Emirates A380 from Dubai that had to land in Brussels instead.

It is not known how many flights in total were blocked on the busiest day of the year for air traffic.

The airport’s runway was forced to close due to a “rejected takeoff,” according to flight tracking website Flightradar24. The website reported the closure at 12:53 p.m. and reopening at 1:14 p.m.

“Safety is our top priority, which is why the special airport fire brigade quickly arrived and provided support to the plane,” the spokesman added. “Many flights have been diverted. The runway is now open and operating normally.

A British Airways spokesman said: ‘Our pilots have made the precautionary decision to cancel the take-off due to technical issues.

“Safety is always our top priority and we apologize to customers for the inconvenience caused.”

That means another disruption this week for families trying to get away for the summer.

JUNE 14 – Huge queues formed at Birmingham Airport earlier this month as passengers waited outside

Departing passengers are the first to line up for security checks at Birmingham Airport this morning
A long line of cars queues up to get into the passenger pick-up area at Birmingham Airport this afternoon

Families flying from Birmingham Airport had to wait in long queues to get through security, with one passenger describing the situation as a “health and safety disaster”.

In recent weeks, travellers using the airport have had to wait for hours to get through the terminal following the opening of a £60 million security screening hall.

The new area will eventually allow passengers to leave liquids up to two litres and large electrical devices in their hand luggage while going through security, but new government restrictions mean passengers will still be able to leave 100ml bottles in their hand luggage.

One video taken earlier this week showed a long queue of cars waiting to enter the drop zone. Witness Olly Carruthers said it was “chaotic” and the zone was “completely destroyed and receding”.

Another traveller said he waited for more than an hour until 5.30am and still had not made it to the lifts to go through security checks, even though there were 1,000 people in the queue.

The airport – which also denied the figure of 1,000 people in the queue – said airport staff removed 0.8 tonnes of liquids, pastes and gels from security between 3.30am and 7am in containers exceeding the permitted 100ml limit in hand luggage.