London Gatwick Airport: Emirates flight forced to complete emergency landing closes main runway

The main runway was closed for a ‘short time’ due to a fault in the plane’s landing gear.

This meant the plane could not turn, forcing it to be towed from the runway.

The incident forced other aircraft to held in the air or temporarily grounded.

Five planes that were due to land at Gatwick were diverted to Luton Airport.

Video footage from inside the aircraft showed passengers watching vehicles meeting the Emirates plane on the tarmac shortly before 8pm.

A London Gatwick spokesperson said: “The Main Runway was closed for a short time last night, following an Emirates A380 making an emergency landing. It landed safely but due to a gear fault it could not turn off the runway, which meant it needed to be towed. Our team worked to get the plane off the runway as quickly as possible.”

An Emirates spokesperson said: “Emirates flight EK 009 on 11 July faced a technical fault on landing at LGW and was immediately met by ground units. All 408 passengers onboard were safely disembarked and the runway was cleared after a 29 minute delay. Necessary inspections were carried out and flight EK10 departed to Dubai with a 2 hour and 10 minute delay. Emirates sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused. The safety of our passengers and crew is of utmost importance.”