Flights at Gatwick airport came to a standstill on Friday afternoon due to a “technical issue” with a departing aircraft.

The runway was closed for almost an hour as teams and emergency vehicles worked to remove an aircraft.

A spokesperson for Gatwick airport said: “The runway was closed for 50 minutes this afternoon (Friday 4 September) due to a technical issue with a departing aircraft.

“The aircraft was towed from the runway, which reopened shortly afterwards following a full safety inspection. As always, safety and security is our number one priority.”

According to Flightradar24, delays occurred after a Norse flight from London to New York JFK “performed a rejected takeoff and was disabled on the runway for a short while”.

Norse Atlantic Airways flight Z0701, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, was reportedly forced to reject its takeoff roll on runway 26L, added Flightradar24.

London Gatwick operates as a single-runway airport because its two runways are too close together to be used at the same time.

The flight tracking service now shows severe delays at the Crawley aviation hub for more than 330 flights, with an average delay of 57 minutes.

Travellers scheduled to fly in or out of Gatwick are advised to check their flight status with their airlines, with delays expected to continue for the rest of the day.

Several flights scheduled to land at Gatwick were diverted following the temporary closure of Gatwick’s runway.

A passenger returning from the Isle of Man said on X: “I'm stuck on a plane returning from the IOM to Gatwick after jawbone surgery yesterday.. exhausted. The plane has diverted to Luton..I'd rather get out and catch a train back to London!”

Another wrote: “Diverted to Stansted instead of Gatwick and not allowed off. Pathetic. We should be allowed off instead of being left here to wait for Gatwick.”

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