London Luton airport has been forced to suspend all flights after a ‘defect’ was discovered in its only runway. The closure came as London and the surrounding area suffered record-breaking temperatures, resulting in the Met Office issuing its first ever Red weather warning for extreme heat.
The runway defect is believed to be directly linked to the extreme heat sweeping across the UK and the airport could not say how long it might take to get the runway back up and running.
The closure meant some flights already midair and heading for Luton had to divert to alternative airports including London Gatwick and Stanstead. All other flights have been halted while engineers work on a fix.
Luton airport is located around 28 miles from Central London and is the home base of low-cost airline easyJet. The airport is primarily served by budget carriers and holiday charter airlines including Ryanair and Wizz Air.
“Following today’s high temperatures, a surface defect was identified on the runway. Engineers were called immediately to site and repair works are currently in progress to resume normal operations as soon as possible,” the airport said in a statement.
“We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused.”
