Spain flights disrupted as Gatwick shuts down its only runway after Boeing 787 aborts take-off

A single aircraft aborting its take-off shouldn’t be able to stop an entire airport, yet that’s what happened at Gatwick on Friday, grounding flights to Spain along with everything else.

The drama unfolded shortly after 2pm on Friday September 4, when Norse Atlantic Airways flight Z0701, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner bound for New York’s JFK airport, rejected its take-off roll on runway 26L at around 120 knots.

Because that runway is the only one Gatwick has, the airport declared an immediate ground stop the moment the jet came to a halt, holding every departure, including flights to Spain, until the aircraft could be cleared.

Nose gear fault forced the jet to abort at high speed 

Flight-tracking specialists reported that the Boeing’s nose gear developed a fault as the aircraft accelerated down the runway, forcing the pilots to reject the take-off before reaching flying speed. Rejecting a take-off at 120 knots, close to the point where many wide-body jets commit to leaving the ground, is a manoeuvre crews train for regularly, and no injuries were reported among the passengers or crew on board. Emergency vehicles were sent to the runway as a precaution while the aircraft sat disabled on the tarmac. 

Passengers told to travel as normal as easyJet flights were diverted

A Gatwick spokesperson said at the time: “Due to a technical issue with a departing aircraft, our runway is currently closed. Our teams are working to move the aircraft and resume operations as quickly as possible.” Passengers already booked to fly were told to head to the airport as normal and check directly with their airline for updates.

EasyJet operates more routes out of Gatwick than any other airline, including dozens of daily connections to Spain, and several of its flights were diverted to London Luton and London Stansted while the runway stayed shut. The diversions set off knock-on delays at both airports for the rest of the day. 

Runway reopened after 50 minutes and a full safety check

The stricken Boeing was towed off runway 26L and onto a remote stand at around 2.30pm, and normal flight operations resumed six minutes later. In total, the closure lasted 50 minutes.

“The aircraft was towed from the runway, which reopened shortly afterwards following a full safety inspection,” a Gatwick spokesperson confirmed, adding that safety and security was the airport’s “number one priority”. Passengers whose flights were delayed or diverted were still working through the disruption into the evening.

How a single aircraft can freeze the world’s busiest one-runway airport

Gatwick has long billed itself as the busiest single-runway airport in the world, handling more than 40 million passengers a year through one strip of tarmac. Its second runway is kept as a back-up, used only when the main one is unavailable, which means a stranded aircraft has nowhere else for traffic to go, unlike Heathrow or Manchester.

Friday’s closure was resolved quickly and without injury, though leaving a knock on effect throughout the day in the form of delays for many flights coming in and going out of the airport.