British Airways flight BA707 had to land at Gatwick instead of Heathrow after a technical issue caused a delay.
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.
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.
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.