Gatwick Airport Crisis Revives Memories of Europe's Russian GPS Jamming Scare

Chaos erupted at Gatwick Airport with at least nine airplanes issuing emergency codes as they were left hovering because a British Airways aircraft was blocking the runway. Inside London Gatwick was even more chaotic as flights were delayed in the middle of a summer travel peak.

Flight BA2673 arrived as scheduled at the airport from Palma de Mallorca, Spain at 11:50 p.m. on Tuesday. But it stayed on the runway as emergency teams rushed to the scene. British Airways said there was a 'technical fault' on the aircraft, while unofficial reports specified that a nose-wheel steering issue reportedly caused the discord.

Flights Diverted

With the BA Airbus A320 unable to move, various aircraft were placed into holding patterns. Nine issued 'squawk' code 7700 for fuel emergencies. They were diverted to London Luton and London Stansted.

The following were the affected jets: British Airways flights BA2607 from Bari and BA2703 from Tenerife; easyJet flights U28704 from Agadir, U28012 from Valencia, U28042 from Fuerteventura, U28186 from Athens and U28330 from Rome; Jet2 flight LS3104 from Lanzarote; and TUI Airways flight BY4249 from Rhodes.

Other flights were diverted to Athens and Rhodes in Greece, Bari and Rome in Italy, and Agadir in Morocco.

An aviation journalist immediately had flashbacks of the widespread Russian GPS jamming and cyber operations that caused aviation disruption throughout Europe in 2024. 'I originally thought this was interference like we saw back in 2024 over Russia, but these are in fact all emergencies due to low fuel on diversions away from London Gatwick, which is currently closed due to an aircraft disabled on the runway!' said Shaun_Aviation on social media.

What Happened to European Aviation in 2024?

In 2024, Europe observed multiple GPS disruptions in aviation. It prompted official research from the Gdynia Maritime University and Poland's GPSPATRON, where academics monitored the supposed interference.

'Over those six months, they detected 84 hours of Global Navigation Satellite System interference, with 29 hours of that total observed in October alone,' Spire, an aerospace and data analytics company, said. 'In October, researchers observed up to seven-hour stretches of GNSS disruption affecting all four major satellite constellations—GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou.'

In March 2024, then UK's Defence Secretary Grant Schapps was on board a Royal Air Force aircraft when its satellite signal jammed while it flew near a Russian territory. A Finnish airline also detected GPS jamming that year, which prompted the company to suspend flights to Tartu, Estonia, which is close to the Russian border.

Following the incident, three airports in Eastern Finland went back to radio navigation equipment to facilitate landings, as management believed that Russia was interfering with satellite navigation. Russia denied any GPS jamming or interference.

Russian Electronic Warfare

While Russia denied disrupting European aviation due to GPS interference, it did admit that electronic warfare is an important defensive tactic, especially in its ongoing war with Ukraine. During the first two days of its invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin disrupted Ukraine's communication and air defense radars.

Various reports indicate that aviation GPS jamming did not just happen in 2024, as disruptions were reported as early as 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.

An hour after peak chaos, London Gatwick was back to regular operations. It was a swift recovery that contrasted sharply with the lingering unease over Europe's earlier GPS disruptions.