High volumes of disruption have been reported at London’s second largest airport, London Gatwick (LGW/EGGW), following an earlier rejected takeoff of a Boeing 777-200.
British Airways 777 Rejects Takeoff
A rejected takeoff is a procedure carried out when an aircraft has not yet reached V1 speed which on a Boeing 777-200 ranges between 130-160knots, and the pilots believe a takeoff cannot be safely carried out.
Earlier today, a British Airways 777-200 registration G-VIIT rejected takeoff on LGW’s runway 26 at 139knots, very close to V1 speed. The aircraft was operating flight BA2279 from LGW to YVR – Vancouver.
Due to the high speed at the time of rejected takeoff, the aircraft reported overheated brakes which required attendance of the airport fire service. A full inspection was required prior to the aircraft being safe to move, and sufficient brake cooling had to take place to prevent fire. At around 1156Z the aircraft was given the go ahead to resume taxi and was able to vacate the runway.
British Airways issued a statement:
Our pilots took the precautionary decision to cancel take-off due to a technical issue. Safety is always our top priority and we apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused.
The aircraft taxied to a remote area of the airport, where passengers were bussed back to the main terminal.
Disruption at London Gatwick
Whilst a brake inspection took place, the aircraft was unable to vacate London Gatwick’s main runway. As a single runway airport this lead to a total ground stop for all departures, and caused several aircraft on approach to divert to other nearby airports including London Stansted (STN/EGSS).
In a statement to the media, Eurocontrol said:
“Very high delays after period of runway unavailability.”
So far today, 55 departures and 58 arrivals have been cancelled from the airport, with most of these being easyJet services – the airline with the largest presence at the airport with over 200 flights a day at the peak of summer schedule.
