London - Travellers trying to get to and from Gatwick, Paris and Stockholm face potential delays after severe disruption to airline operations on Sunday.
The runway at Gatwick, the busiest in the world, was closed at 3.48pm on Sunday when a routine inspection identified evidence of damage. The airport tweeted: “Our runway is temporarily closed while we carry out investigations.” One report said the runway surface appeared to be breaking up.
At least 15 inbound flights were diverted, including arrivals from Istanbul, Vienna and Madeira.
Passengers from Malta and Malaga touched down in Bournemouth, while the flights from Heraklion operated by both British Airways and easyJet touched down at Stansted. It later tweeted that flights were now arriving and departing.
Gatwick has a spare runway to the north of the main runway, and it was opened to departures and arrivals at 4.35pm on Sunday. But with congestion building at the airport, together with planes and crews being out of position, travellers experienced delays and cancellations for most of Sunday with the possible impact running into the morning rush hour on Monday.
BA passengers on the airline's longest route, to Lima in Peru, were already delayed before the runway closure, and now face arriving in the Peruvian capital at 2am on Monday rather than 6.30pm on Sunday.
In Paris, Air France has grounded dozens of flights scheduled for Monday, as the pilots' strike goes into its third day. Pilots are in dispute over pay and working hours.
The airline said 27 percent of pilots have stopped work. It intends to operate 85 percent of its domestic and long-haul services, but has cancelled three out of 10 European flights, including links with Heathrow and Manchester.
Swedish pilots working for the Scandinavian airline, SAS, also went on strike in a dispute over pay. The carrier cancelled 220 flights on Sunday, affecting 26 000 passengers. SAS organised buses from Stockholm to Copenhagen, its main base - a journey of over 400 miles.
The airline's Danish and Norwegian pilots are working normally.
The Independent