Takeoffs and landings were temporarily disrupted at London Heathrow on the morning of February 19, 2020. An aircraft had to be towed away from a taxiway, forcing the airport to close one of its two runways for several “minutes”. The disruption, while short-lived, was pointed out to be the reason for United Airlines’ squawk 7700 emergency.
Heathrow spokesperson confirmed the disturbance to AeroTime News, stating the situation was quickly solved. “For a matter of minutes one of the runways was out of service as an aircraft was towed from the taxiway,” Heathrow spokesperson told AeroTime News. “Heathrow is now operating as normal.”
One of the flights diverted from LHR to Gatwick on February 19, 2020, was United Airlines Flight UA924, coming from Washington, United States. The Boeing 767 was Initially supposed to land in Heathrow, but made several circles above London before finally successfully landing in Gatwick. However, it was forced to send the 7700 emergency code (squawk 7700) as it was running low on fuel, as suggested by AirNav.
LIVE United #UA924 is declaring an emergency due to low fuel after incident at Heathrow forced the flight to hold https://t.co/mafp8hOQX7 pic.twitter.com/3mNZpcjq31
— AIRLIVE (@airlivenet) February 19, 2020
