London Gatwick Airport’s main runway was temporarily closed overnight on 15 July 2026 after a British Airways aircraft suffered a nose-gear steering technical fault and blocked the runway. British Airways Flight BA2673 from Palma de Mallorca landed at approximately 12:12 AM but became disabled, halting all runway operations until it was towed off at around 1:30 AM.
During the runway blockage, nine inbound flights declared emergency squawk 7700 due to low fuel and were diverted or held in holding patterns. A total of 14 flights were diverted overnight to alternate airports including London Luton, London Stansted, London Heathrow, and Birmingham.
Among them were easyJet flights EZY89LE from Agadir, EZY16VL from Valencia, and EZY24LT from Fuerteventura, all rerouted to London Luton.
The incident caused delays for more than 400 flights at Gatwick, affecting arrivals from Tenerife, Valencia, Lanzarote, Rhodes, Athens, Bari, Rome, and Agadir. Although no widespread cancellations were reported, dozens of flights experienced disruptions. Gatwick’s terminals remained highly congested as operations worked to clear the significant backlog into the morning.
A Gatwick Airport spokesperson said: “Earlier this morning, the runway was closed for a short period due to a technical issue with an aircraft. 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.” Emergency services and recovery teams towed the disabled British Airways aircraft off the runway to a hangar to resume normal operations.
Following the runway reopening at approximately 1:30 AM, most diverted flights refueled at alternate airports and returned to Gatwick to disembark passengers. Flight operations continued with residual scheduling adjustments expected throughout 15 July 2026 as Gatwick managed displaced aircraft and crew availability after the overnight disruption. Gatwick, the UK’s second-busiest airport, relies primarily on a single main
runway for operations; the blockage demonstrated the impact of runway dependence and the use of multiple London-area airports for emergency diversions.
