Jet misses runway at Gatwick

AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after a jet carrying 95 people missed the runway at Gatwick airport and landed on a taxi-ing area, writes Marianne Macdonald. The consequences could have been disastrous had there been another aircraft on the taxi-way.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch is now studying the incident, which involved a Boeing 737 arriving from Malta at 9.15pm on Wednesday.

A Gatwick spokeswoman said the Air Malta flight had been asked to touch down on an emergency runway because the main runway had been closed so that markings could be repainted.

Instead, the Boeing landed on the taxi-way, about 200ft from the terminal building. The jet landed safely.

The spokeswoman said the main runway, emergency runway and taxi-way ran parallel to each other at right-angles to the terminal building.

The runways were distinguished from each other for safety. The main runway was darkened because it was out of service, the alternative runway had full landing lights and the taxi-way was lit with green lights.