Gatwick denies receiving distress calls from planes during storms

It had been reported that several craft came close to running out of fuel above Gatwick and Heathrow as the planes circled the airports waiting to land as vicious winds battered the country.

This morning (February 17), a spokesman for Gatwick said: “At no point did we have any sort of mayday distress signal from any aircraft at any time.

“We had a handful of diverts away from Gatwick but similarly took a number of diverts headed for other UK airports.

“We believe there may have been some confusion with Manchester Airport confirming ‘Medical Pan’ calls, which are called maydays but they mean a pilot has requested medical assistance on arrival as a passenger is unwell on the aircraft.”