The runway at London Gatwick Airport was temporarily closed on Wednesday afternoon and flights grounded.

The airport said four flights due to land at around 4pm were diverted to other airports.

However, Flightradar24 showed that a total of nine flights were diverted between 3.35pm and 4.10pm.

Several flights were also delayed on Thursday morning .

The first to be diverted on Wednesday was a TAP Air Portugal flight from Lisbon, which was diverted to London Heathrow, and the last was a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul, which was also sent to Heathrow.

Other diverted flights included easyJet services from Belfast, Heraklion and Kefalonia when were sent to London Luton, an easyJet flight from Rome diverted to Southend, and and easyJet flight from Santorini sent to Bournemouth.

A British Airways flight from Corfu landed instead at London Stansted.

In a statement issued at around 4.30pm on Wednesday , a Gatwick spokesperson said:  “The main runway was closed for a short time today (16 August) due to emergency repairs.

“Four flights were diverted. The runway is now open and operating as normal. 

“Safety is our top priority and we apologise for to passengers for any inconvenience.”

Some media reports suggested a plane had been leaking fuel, causing the runway to be closed.