A delayed British Airways flight heading to Heathrow was forced to divert to Gatwick after missing the airport’s opening times.
Flight BA707 was delayed over three hours at Larnaca airport in Cyprus on 19 October, due to an unspecified technical issue that was fixed before the passengers could board.
Hours behind schedule after departing at 9.45pm local time, the four-and-a-half-hour flight due to land at Heathrow airport was forced to land at London’s second-largest airport, Gatwick.
It appears the flight crew knew before reaching the UK that they would be landing at Gatwick airport, as FlightRadar24 data shows the Airbus A320 landing straight at Gatwick rather than circling Heathrow.
The flight landed at Gatwick airport just after midnight. Heathrow said that in the case of flight BA707, it elected to land at Gatwick.
A British Airways spokesperson told The Independent: “We’re sorry for the disruption to our customers’ journeys.”
“Due to a delay, the flight was unable to meet Heathrow’s airport curfew and diverted to Gatwick instead. Our teams worked hard to arrange onward transport and get customers on their way as quickly as possible.”
There is no formal ban on night flights at Heathrow, but the government has placed restrictions on them since the 1960s.
These restrictions mean Heathrow can operate only 5,800 night-time (between 11.30pm and 6am) take-offs and landings each year.
A night quota limit also caps the amount of noise the airport can make at night.
The airport currently does not schedule departures between 10.40pm and 6am or arrivals between 10.55pm and 5.05am.
Heathrow also has a voluntary ban that prevents flights scheduled to arrive between 4.30am and 6am from landing before 4.30am.
While the airport cannot eliminate night flights, as global timetables make this difficult, it imposes restrictions to limit noise pollution.
Heathrow has contingency measures for unscheduled or delayed flights that need to fly at night, but it weighs the effects on local communities, passengers, and the airline network before deciding whether to allow the plane to land or take off.
To land late at night at Heathrow, the airline must request permission and explain the reason for the delay. Heathrow then assess these requests on a case-by-case basis.
The government's Department for Transport provides a framework for granting requests to prevent significant disruption to consumers and avoid operational impacts spilling into the next day.
Heathrow also has special dispensation for additional night flights during serious weather conditions, emergencies or flight traffic congestion.
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