Power outage at airport disrupts Gib flights

Gibraltar International Airport suffered a technical issue affecting Air Traffic Control equipment on Monday morning, leaving all three flights due to land on the Rock diverting to Malaga.

The British Airways Heathrow return flight was subsquently cancelled.

The easyJet flight, from Birmingham, saw its passengers landing in Malaga and being bussed to and from the airports.

The easyJet flight from Gatwick landed in Malaga and hours later successfully landed on the Rock.

The events on Monday morning come after issues at the airport affected flights on Sunday evening

“Following a power outage to Air Traffic Control (ATC) equipment last night [Sunday], teams from the MOD, Mitie and Aquila responded rapidly to resolve the issue,” said an MOD spokesperson on Monday evening.

“Power has now been fully restored to essential ATC equipment, and flights have resumed safely and smoothly to and from Gibraltar Airport.”

It noted that five flights in total were affected.

“Two aircraft were affected on Sunday 8 February and three this morning [Monday],” said the spokesperson.

“This issue highlights the strength and professionalism of our multi agency teams, who responded quickly and effectively to protect operational continuity,” the MOD spokesperson added.

While the MOD did no offer details on the nature of the technical issue, it noted the incident “reinforces the importance of the MOD’s ongoing investment programme to modernise RAF Gibraltar airfield and air traffic control systems.”

“This programme is already delivering benefits, reducing downtime, and making the airfield more resilient,” the spokesperson added.

“Reliability will continue to improve as the next phase of new power supplies and network upgrades comes online.”

The latest flight disruptions followed cancellations last week due to the weather affecting the Rock.