Passengers left stranded as stormy weather disrupts flights and impacts radar

By Eyleen Gomez

Passengers flying to London from Gibraltar were left stranded on Tuesday as stormy weather disrupted flights and impacted the air traffic radar.

Two inbound British Airways flights from Heathrow were diverted to Seville – Malaga had been hit by strike action that limited the airport’s capacity to handle passengers – and both outbound flights were cancelled.

The first flight to be affected was due to land on the Rock at 12.25 on Tuesday afternoon.

It held off on the east side for some time before attempting to land on two occasions.

The unsuccessful attempts resulted in the flight initially being diverted to Malaga.

But once on the tarmac, passengers were not allowed off the plane.

Later in the afternoon the plane departed Malaga and flew to Seville, from where passengers were then transported to Gibraltar.

The second Heathrow flight of the day diverted directly to Seville too.

The weather conditions, coupled to radar issues, meant the flight did not even attempt to land here.

In the departure lounge in Gibraltar, passengers speculated that the radar may have been struck by lightning.

But the Ministry of Defence, which is responsible for the airfield, did not comment on this when asked.

However, an MoD spokesperson confirmed: “Adverse weather conditions are affecting the air traffic radar.”

“Engineers will be dispatched to investigate when it is safe to do so.”

“Gibraltar Airport remains open, and Air Traffic Control remain in place.”

A spokesperson for British Airways apologised to passengers for the disruption “due to adverse weather in Gibraltar” and said it was assisting passengers to rebook flights.

“Gibraltar Airport has been impacted by thunderstorms today resulting in our aircraft having to divert to Seville,” the BA spokesperson told the Chronicle.

“Our teams are in touch with customers to apologise and provide rebooking options and as always customers can request a full refund if they no longer wish to travel.”

“We are adding additional capacity from surrounding airports tomorrow to help customers get away as quickly as possible.”