A German Airforce Bombardier Global 5000 Jet Closed Off Heathrow Airport Air Space On Friday
20 January 2020
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German Airforce Bombardier Global 5000 Jet

Mirror|HEATHROW’S airport was closed for around 30 minutes on Friday after an RAF aircraft entered the airspace.

During this time a German military plane from RAF Northolt flew into the major transport hub’s vicinity. The ensuing disruption caused stacking of international flights at the airport, with at least four British Airways flights and one Virgin Atlantic aircraft to be diverted to other airports such as Gatwick, Stansted and Luton. Flight data shows plane belonging to German Air Force took off from Northolt just before 9am.

The plane, GAF612, was thought to have been Bombardier Global 5000 jet on route to Hamburg.

None of the other planes shown as leaving the airport that morning were military aircraft, although this may not have been the only RAF flight through the airspace during the time frame as records do not list the departures of RAF planes.

The RAF gave an announcement on Friday explaining the situation, that it was not an emergency and said the delay was caused by “one of our assets” flying from Northolt.

A spokesman said: “RAF can confirm that a flight was completed this morning by one of our assets from RAF Northolt.

“This flight was coordinated with Heathrow ATC but had to extend by a few minutes.

“The minor delays caused to civilian air traffic are regretted.”

Stacked planes began to run low on fuel after being denied landing clearance because of the German jet’s sudden appearance.

Passengers of one Virgin Atlantic flight revealed how their pilot announced over the tannoy that they only had “five to ten minutes” of fuel left and had to land at Gatwick.

The RAF suddenly informed the civilian controllers they needed an “unplanned” use of airspace at around 9am on Friday.

Flight tracker website FlightAware has revealed the plane took off from Northolt at 8.55am Friday morning and flew to Hamburg, landing at 10.03am UK time.

The closure of Heathrow led to passengers being left stranded for several hours.

British TV producer Anne Henry told The Mirror how her Virgin Atlantic flight from Los Angeles was diverted to Gatwick due to a lack of fuel.

She told Mirror Online: “It was quite alarming when the captain announced after circling Heathrow for a while, Ladies and gentlemen we have about five to ten minutes fuel left so we may need to divert to Gatwick.”

She added: “We had been on the ground for about an hour but were not allowed to get off.”

Aviation news source Airlive tweeted: “Many planes are holding on approach to London Heathrow.

“It looks like landings were suspended for a while.”