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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/12/gatwick-airport-flights-diverted-hole-main-runway-closed
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| Gatwick flights diverted after hole discovered in airport's main runway Gatwick flights diverted after hole discovered in airport's main runway | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Flights have been diverted and passengers have faced lengthy delays at Gatwick after a hole opened up in the tarmac on the airport’s main runway. | Flights have been diverted and passengers have faced lengthy delays at Gatwick after a hole opened up in the tarmac on the airport’s main runway. |
| Between 15 and 20 flights due to arrive at Gatwick on Sunday afternoon were diverted to Stansted and Bournemouth airports, a spokesman said. | Between 15 and 20 flights due to arrive at Gatwick on Sunday afternoon were diverted to Stansted and Bournemouth airports, a spokesman said. |
| Our runway is temporarily closed while we carry out investigations. Apologies if you're impacted. We'll update you shortly. | Our runway is temporarily closed while we carry out investigations. Apologies if you're impacted. We'll update you shortly. |
| Harry Evans said he and other passengers trying to make their way from Copenhagen to Gatwick were told that a storm had flooded the runway, preventing planes from landing. “Then they discovered it had made a hole,” he said. | Harry Evans said he and other passengers trying to make their way from Copenhagen to Gatwick were told that a storm had flooded the runway, preventing planes from landing. “Then they discovered it had made a hole,” he said. |
| Despite flights having been allowed to take off and land at the West Sussex airport within an hour, Evans said there were continued delays and that his flight was on course to depart about three hours behind schedule. | Despite flights having been allowed to take off and land at the West Sussex airport within an hour, Evans said there were continued delays and that his flight was on course to depart about three hours behind schedule. |
| A Gatwick spokesman said: “Our main runway was temporarily closed at 15.48 while we investigated a reported issue. We switched our operation to the [secondary] northern runway to keep flights departing and arriving from Gatwick. | A Gatwick spokesman said: “Our main runway was temporarily closed at 15.48 while we investigated a reported issue. We switched our operation to the [secondary] northern runway to keep flights departing and arriving from Gatwick. |
| “There will, however, be some delays to flights and cancellations because of this. The safety and security of our airport and passengers is our number one priority, but we’d like to apologise to passengers impacted today. Passengers should check with their airline as to the status of their flight.” | “There will, however, be some delays to flights and cancellations because of this. The safety and security of our airport and passengers is our number one priority, but we’d like to apologise to passengers impacted today. Passengers should check with their airline as to the status of their flight.” |