Luton Airport runway: what happened to the runway, are flights resuming and is Luton Airport closed today?

One of the busiest airports in the UK, Luton airport, faced a huge challenge yesterday after high temperatures lifted a small section of the runway.

An airport spokesperson said flights had been temporarily suspended "to allow for an essential runway repair after high surface temperatures caused a small section to lift".

London could see records hit as temperatures creep up towards the 40C mark, which would be the highest temperature ever recorded in the capital.

The damage occurred amidst a red weather warning for extreme heat, which is still active until the end of Tuesday, 19 July.

This wasn’t the only problem with runways during the day, with reports that the UK’s largest RAF flight base, Brize Norton, also paused flight operations due to its runway ‘melting’.

What happened to the runway?

A small section of the runway was lifted due to the high temperatures that London at outer London faced yesterday.

A statement posted to the airport’s Twitter account shortly after 4.20pm reads: Following today’s high temperatures, a surface defect was identified on the runway.

“Engineers were called immediately to site and repair works are currently in progress to resume operations as soon as possible.

“We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused.”

What was the temperature around the time of the incident?

When the official twitter account for the airport reported on the incident, temperatures were believed to be around 37C, which was the peak of the temperature on the day.

Why did the runway melt?

With the heatwave now in its third day, a lot of people have wondered why 40C in the UK feels a lot different to 40C abroad.

It is believed that runways in the UK are able to withstand harsh, negative weather conditions such as snow and ice, but are not equipped to deal with temperatures we have endured.

The heat has also caused rail tracks to buckle at Vauxhall railway station, causing travel disruption.

Great Northern railway also reported that some tracks that it operates on had also buckled.

It’s an issue with most infrastructure in the UK. People have noted that their houses are particularly hot, that is because British homes are built to keep heat in.

When did flights resume?

Less than two hours after the official twitter account at the airport tweeted regarding the issue, the airport said departing flights resumed at 5:40pm, with inbound resuming around 15 minutes later.

Is the airport closed today?

No issues have been reported today, and Luton airport is fully operational once again.

Are affected passengers entitled to a refund?

It is a blanket rule that if passengers’ flights are delayed by two hours or more, they may be entitled to compensation.

However, airlines can cite “extraordinary circumstances” which are outside of their control and avoid having to issue a refund.

Will these problems occur again?

It’s hard to speculate whether these problems will ever happen again, but it is a possibility.

The weather today is expected to be hotter than yesterday, with temperatures set to exceed 35C in and around London.