Hole-y moley: Gatwick flights are back to normal after a hole was found in its runway
Flights are back to normal at Gatwick Airport after its main runway was closed last night following the discovery of a "hole".
A spokesperson for the airport said flights had been switched to the airport's substitute runway after a routine maintenance check found the hole, although the spokesperson was unable to go into detail about what kind of hole it was.
Read more: Gatwick say bumper numbers prove case for second runway
"Flights kept departing during the course of the evening and [were back to normal] yesterday evening before 11," she added.
Yesterday evening at 7.40pm, Gatwick had to switch operations from our main Southern runway to our back-up northern runway, as a precautionary measure, following findings during one of our regular maintenance checks.
During this change there was a short period when the airport was unable to accept landing aircraft, resulting in approximately ten aircraft being diverted and subsequent delays to flights. Aircraft continued to take off and land using our Northern runway and we switched back to our main runway at 21:46.
According to the airport's arrivals board yesterday, a flight from Dubai which was scheduled to land at 7.45pm was diverted, alongside a 7.45pm arrival from Larnaca and an 8.15pm flight from Skiathos.
Meanwhile, flights from Valencia, Barcelona, Jersey, Shannon and Newquay were delayed.
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