British Airways Flight Returns to Gatwick After Window Crack

A British Airways flight traveling from London Gatwick to Faro, Portugal, returned to the UK on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, after a reported crack in a passenger window prompted the crew to abandon the journey and divert over northwestern France. The Airbus A321 landed safely at Gatwick following the technical issue, and the airline said it was working to help affected passengers continue their journeys.

Flight BA2660 departed Gatwick at around 9 a.m., according to The Telegraph, but turned back after approximately an hour. Flight-tracking data showed the aircraft making a sharp U-turn after passing over Brittany, France.

AirNav Radar, a flight-tracking service, reported that the aircraft declared an emergency and began returning to Gatwick. The Telegraph said messages it had seen indicated that the damage involved a passenger window on the right-hand side of the aircraft.

According to AirNav Radar, the flight crew was checking the situation before deciding where to divert.

AirNav Radar wrote on X, "A passenger window is cracked. Flight deck going through checks before deciding were to divert."

The aircraft transmitted the 7700 emergency code to air traffic control, according to reports from AirNav Radar and The Telegraph. The code is used to signal a general emergency involving an aircraft.

The Telegraph reported that emergency ground crews at Gatwick had been alerted to meet the aircraft as a precaution. The available reports did not establish what caused the window to crack.

British Airways confirmed that the aircraft returned safely and described the incident as a minor technical issue. The airline also acknowledged the disruption to passengers traveling to Portugal.

A British Airways spokesperson said, "The aircraft diverted following a minor technical issue and landed safely back at London Gatwick."

The airline said its teams were assisting passengers whose travel plans had been affected by the return to Gatwick.

The spokesperson added, "We have apologised to customers for the delay to their journey, and our teams are working hard to get their travel plans back on track."

The incident followed another disruption involving a British Airways flight the previous week. According to the BBC, a service bound for Chicago spent five hours circling over Ireland before returning to London Heathrow, the airport from which it had departed.

That flight issued an emergency alert, and passengers reported that oxygen masks had dropped in the cabin amid turbulence. Flight-tracking data showed the aircraft descending rapidly from 37,000 feet to 9,000 feet.

A separate incident in August involved Serbian national Ljubisa Karović, who was seriously injured after his head and right shoulder were pulled out through a window on a Ryanair flight. The airline subsequently said the window may have been damaged by a foreign object.