British Airways A320 Disabled on Gatwick Runway Triggers Fuel Emergencies and Diversions
A total of 14 flights that were due to land at London Gatwick Airport in the early hours of Wednesday morning were forced to divert to other airports across England, with some declaring ‘fuel emergencies’ after a British Airways plane became ‘stranded’ on the only runway at Gatwick. British Airways flight BA-2673, which was operated by a 25-year-old Airbus A320 (registration: G-GATS), was returning to London Gatwick after an otherwise routine flight from Palma Mallorca (PMI) when the pilots informed Air Traffic Control of an issue with the nose wheel of the aircraft. An issue at Gatwick as nine (9) flights originally bound for the London airport are currently squawking 7700 (likely due to low fuel). We are working to learn more. https://t.co/HsHBhiVnxD pic.twitter.com/cHSUBcbZlv — Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) July 14, 2026 The aircraft was put into a holding pattern over South East England while the pilots attempted to troubleshoot the issue before being cleared to land on Gatwick’s Runway 8L. After coming to a stop on the runway, however, it became evident that the nose wheel steering wasn’t working, and the plane became disabled on the runway. London Gatwick is the world’s second busiest airport with just one operational runway, after Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. The airport was actually designed and built with two parallel runways: 8L and 26L, and 8R and 26R, but international design and safety standards mean that only one runway can be used at any one time. Normally, the southern runway (8R and 26R) is used for all departures and arrivals, with the northern runway (8L and 26L) used as the airport’s main taxiway. On Tuesday night, however, the southern runway was out of use, so operations were being conducted on 8L without a seperate taxiway. When British Airways flight 2673 became stranded on the northern runway, Air Traffic Control was forced to order a slew of aircraft due to land at London Gatwick to enter holding patterns while emergency services responded to the issue on the runway. The pilots of nine aircraft in quick succession then reported so-called ‘fuel emergencies’ as they flew in tight holding patterns over the South East. A fuel emergency doesn’t mean that a plane is at risk of suddenly falling out of the sky, but rather that the pilot is indicating to Air Traffic Control that the plane no longer has enough fuel to endlessly fly around in circles and that priority needs to be given to getting the aircraft on the ground as quickly as possible. With no indication of how long it might take for the disabled British Airways plane to be towed off the runway, Air Traffic Control then started to direct other aircraft to start diverting to different airports. In total, 14 flights had to divert, with five heading to London Luton, four to London Stansted, three to Birmingham, one to Bristol, and one being allowed to break London Heathrow’s nighttime curfew. The British Airways aircraft has now been taken out of service with a planned trip to Alicante, Spain, and back, cancelled on Wednesday. Last month, the High Court upheld a government decision to allow London Gatwick to bring its northern runway into routine use. In order to comply with international safety standards, the center line of the runway will be moved 12 meters north to allow enough seperation with the southern runway. While this might sound like a relatively simple job, London Gatwick doesn’t expect the runway to be in routine use until 2030 at the earliest.