A flight, number EK16, that had taken off from London Gatwick airport heading for Dubai was diverted back to Heathrow airport shortly after take-off after experiencing a technical glitch.

The A380 aircraft left Gatwick at 16:30 hours but 20 minutes after take-off, the plane landed at Heathrow Airport. Passengers were then evacuated and were accommodated on another Emirates flight heading to Dubai from Heathrow airport.

Emirates issued an apology to its passengers. The international carrier through a spokesperson said: “Emirates flight EK016 from London Gatwick-Dubai on 19 June was diverted to London Heathrow shortly after takeoff due to technical issue. All affected passengers are being accommodated on Emirates flights from London Heathrow-Dubai. Emirates apologizes for inconvenience.”

After the incident, the plane was taken in for technical evaluation.  The airline did not confirm the cause of the technical glitch but a report in the Aviation Herald noted that “multiple ground observers reported they saw the aircraft climb out without the gear being retracted.”

Videos were shared online purporting to show the plane taking off with the gear unretracted.

Emirates, founded in 1985 with financial backing from Dubai Royal family, is one of the largest privately owned airlines in the middle East. Emirates is the fourth largest airline in the world in terms of passenger numbers and the second largest in terms of freight-ton kilometers flown.

The last major technical glitch that Emirates had was when an Emirates flight failed to take off for five hours from India's Ahmedabad airport.

By Airport Pickups London