Three flights diverted from Gatwick over ‘IT issues’

Passengers report confusion at Britain's second busiest airport

Two British Airways planes were among three planes to have been denied landing at Gatwick due to 'IT issues' in the control tower. The planes were sent to Heathrow to land instead. Photo: PA

Three flights have been diverted from Gatwick Airport over “IT issues” in the air traffic control tower.

Planes from Tampa, Antigua and Belfast were affected by the operational problems at the UK's second-busiest airport on Thursday morning.

Passengers on social media reported landing at Heathrow amid confusion over what would happen next.

One person described long queues at Gatwick as a “shambles”.

Another person said he was on board a British Airways flight which had been diverted from Gatwick to Heathrow.

One man named Stuart said he was sitting in Heathrow after his British Airways flight landed in the west London airport having been refused landing at Gatwick.

“You learn a lot about businesses when they deal with problems, and the comms as we sit at Heathrow having been diverted from @Gatwick_Airport by @British_Airways due to it being 'closed', suggests we won’t learn anything positive about either company today,” he tweeted.

Lottie Wood, whose flight from Antigua had been diverted to Heathrow, told The National the issue had led to an “awful” situation.

At around 8am the plane approached Gatwick to land but passengers “were told we were circling due to an issue at the airport”.

Ms Wood said after 10 minutes of circling the captain announced that the plane would be heading to Heathrow, where travellers had to wait for hours.

She said there was “definitely not enough support” from British Airways, adding: “Cabin crew were lovely but the handle was awful. Just an email to say sorry you have been delayed.”

After eventually landing at her original destination, she tweeted: “Finally at Gatwick now, only over 3 hours late!! Hopefully the queues aren’t horrific.”

A Gatwick Airport representative said the diversions were the result of “IT issues in the air traffic control tower this morning”.

Later, they said: “Earlier IT issues in the air traffic control tower this morning have been resolved and flights are arriving and departing as normal.

“Some flights may still experience delays however and passengers are advised to check their flight status with the airline.”

Flight radar tracking showed several planes circling above Gatwick. The first nine departing flights of the day were delayed by at least an hour.

Tracking data on flightradar24.com showed BAW2256 and BAW2155 flights from Heathrow Airport bound for Gatwick both left at around 11am. The planes, along with an easyJet flight from Belfast, could be seen circling Gatwick as they waited for the all-clear to land.

A spokeswoman for Gatwick told The National that the flights which had initially been diverted had since landed safely at the airport in West Sussex.

A spokesman for British Airways confirmed to The National that both of its affected flights had landed safely in Gatwick after the issue had been resolved and the carrier’s flights had resumed normal operation in and out of the airport.

An EasyJet spokesman told The National that one of its planes had been diverted to Luton Airport this morning but had since arrived at Gatwick.

After the issue had been resolved, he said the carrier wads "experiencing some disruption to our flying programme".

“Outbound flights were held on the ground at Gatwick and these are now departing, however, there may be some delays as a result," he added.

“Whilst this is out of our control we apologise for the inconvenience caused by the diversion and delays and would like to thank passengers for their patience and co-operation.

“The safety and security of its passengers and crew is our highest priority.”