Trouble at Gatwick sparks travel chaos: 14 flights are forced to land at other UK airports after 'technical issue'

By PATRICK HARRINGTON, UK NEWS REPORTER Published: 09:01, 15 July 2026 | Updated: 09:06, 15 July 2026 London's airspace was thrown into chaos overnight as 14 flights were forced to reroute after a plane at Gatwick suffered a technical issue. Nine of the flights waiting to land declared emergencies due to low fuel levels, while a fire crew rushed to clear the problem British Airways plane stranded on the runway. Flights from destinations including Spain, Morocco and Greece were forced to re-route to Birmingham, Bristol, Heathrow, Luton and Stansted. At the centre of the chaos was British Airways flight BA2673 from Palma de Mallorca.  It touched down at Gatwick just after midnight and was immediately surrounded by fire and airport service vehicles after identifying an issue in the air. The plane had reportedly suffered a problem with its nose wheel, meaning it was unable to turn or taxi to the gate - leaving it blocking the runway. Meanwhile, Air Traffic Control turned away other inbound flights, which scrambled to find alternative airports. Nine of them 'squawked' 7700 emergency alerts at the same time, sowing serious alarm among aviation watchers. Nine planes 'squawked' an emergency alert, likely for low fuel, after being turned away from Gatwick British Airways flight BA2673 had a problem on the runway so was attended to by emergency vehicles Some of the diverted planes flew straight on to Gatwick after touching down - without letting passengers disembark. Milicja Obywatelska wrote on X: 'My daughter’s plane from Greece was redirected to Luton, so I drove there just to find out from her 10 minutes before my arrival that they won’t let anyone out, and after refuelling they will head to Gatwick, so I had to drive back to Gatwick.' A number of the jets that sounded the alarm had come from Spanish destinations, including Tenerife, Valencia, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Flights were also diverted from Rhodes and Athens in Greece, Bari and Rome in Italy, and Agadir in Morocco. Irish aviation journalist Shaun's Aviation said: 'I originally thought this was interference like we saw back in 2024 over Russia, but these are in fact all emergencies due to low fuel on diversions away from London Gatwick, which is currently closed due to an aircraft disabled on the runway.' British Airways told the Mail: 'Our flight landed safely and customers disembarked normally following reports of a technical fault with the aircraft.' A spokesperson for Gatwick Airport confirmed that the 'majority' of those diverted planes eventually made their way to their original destination. She 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.'