Flights diverted and delayed at Gatwick following IT issues

Sussex airport blames ‘IT issues in the Air Traffic Control’

The diverted flights shown on Radarbox (Twitter/@AirLiveNet)

Three flights have been diverted from Gatwick Airport, with the airport blaming “IT issues” at Air Traffic Control for the halt in operations.

Landings appear to have been suspended between around 7.30am and 8.10am on Thursday morning.

Flight tracking websites FlightRadar and RadarBox showed several aircraft circling nearby the airport at around 8am.

Two British Airways long-haul arrivals have been diverted to Heathrow: BA2166 from Tampa in Florida and BA2256 from Antigua.

They are believed to be refuelling at Heathrow and will fly back to Gatwick later this morning.

One easyJet arrival, from Belfast International, was diverted to Luton.

A Gatwick spokesperson said: “We have been experiencing IT issues in the Air Traffic Control tower this morning, resulting in three diverted flights.

“We are continuing to experience delays with both arrivals and departures. We are working to fully resolve this as soon as possible.”

At 10.36am Gatwick Airport issued an update on Twitter saying that the IT problems had been fixed but warning customers to expect some delays.

“Earlier IT issues in the Air Traffic Control tower this morning have been resolved and flights are arriving and departing the airport as normal.

“Some flights may still experience delays and we advise you to check the status of your flight with your airline.”