- IS YOUR holiday affected? Email eirian.prosser@dailymail.co.uk
All flights at Gatwick Airport were temporarily suspended this afternoon after a British Airways flight was forced to make an emergency stop on the runway.
The Boeing 777 blocked all other flights trying to take off on the runway, causing chaos for thousands of British holidaymakers.
Video footage from passengers on board the plane showed fire engines en route to the stationary vehicle, while travelers were told the takeoff had been ‘aborted’.
Flight G-VIIT BA2279 was scheduled to depart for Vancouver this afternoon before it was forced to make a “high-speed emergency stop”.
A statement from the airport said the plane was left behind “because the departing aircraft had a hot break.”
According to travel expert Simon Calder, at least twelve flights were diverted, including an Emirates A380 flight from Dubai that was forced to land in Brussels instead.
It is not known how many flights were affected in total on the busiest aviation day of the year so far.
The airport’s runway was forced to close after a “rejected takeoff,” according to website Flightradar24. The website reported the closure at 12:53 p.m. and the reopening at 1:14 p.m.
“Safety is our top priority and the dedicated airport fire service responded quickly to support the aircraft,” a spokesperson added. ‘A number of flights were diverted. The runway is now open and functioning normally.”
A British Airways spokesperson said: ‘As a precautionary measure, our pilots have decided to cancel the take-off due to a technical issue.
“Safety is always our top priority and we apologize to customers for any inconvenience caused.”
It’s a problem again this week for families looking to get away this summer.
Families flying from Birmingham Airport were faced with long queues at security, with one passenger describing it as a ‘health and safety disaster’.
Travelers using the airport have had to wait several hours to get through the terminal in recent weeks after a £60 million security hall opened.
The new area will eventually allow passengers to leave liquids up to two litres and large electrical appliances in their hand luggage while passing through security. However, due to new government restrictions, passengers will still only be allowed to carry 100ml bottles.
Video filmed earlier this week showed a long line of cars waiting to enter the drop-off area today. Witness Olly Carruthers said it was ‘chaos’ with the area ‘completely broken up and gridlocked’.
Another traveler said he had waited more than an hour at 5.30am this morning and still had not arrived at the lifts to get through security – with 1,000 people in line.
The airport – which also denied the figure of 1,000 people in the queue – said staff removed 0.8 tonnes of liquids, pastes and gels from containers that exceeded the 100ml hand luggage limit between 3.30am and 7am.