Passengers were left stranded on airplanes at London Gatwick this morning for more than an hour after an aircraft was compelled to opt for an emergency landing.
Runways had been shut, suspending arrivals and departures after the flight of Virgin Atlantic from Antigua in the Caribbean had developed a steering issue in mid-air.
The aircraft was able to make a safe landing but a lot of travellers took to a popular microblogging site to express their angst as they were stranded for over an hour as they waited to take off.
Some flights also had to be diverted, with aircraft instead landing at Heathrow.
Passengers told how they were not informed of the mid-air emergency, which happened around 6am, and were stuck on planes.
At just after 7am the airport’s runway fully reopened, and arrivals and departures returned to normal.
A spokesman for Gatwick Airport said that their main runway was unavailable for a short period this morning while a safety inspection took place.
The person went on to assert that this was due to an earlier aircraft landing with a technical issue. The aircraft landed safely.
A spokesman for Virgin Atlantic said that the VS34 from Antigua to Gatwick made a precautionary landing on 31 August 2018 due to a technical issue.
The spokesperson also mentioned that the safety of customers and crew is always their top priority and after landing safely the aircraft was taken to the gate as normal.
The runway was inspected after landing and has currently reopened.
Tags: Gatwick, Virgin Atlantic
