An easyJet Airbus A320-214 diverted to London Gatwick on Saturday, 26 September 2026, after the crew declared an emergency following a loss of fluid in the aircraft’s Yellow hydraulic system on a scheduled flight from Alicante to Manchester.
Flight U22014, operated with registration G-EZOI, left Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC) at about 09:10 UTC and climbed to a cruise altitude of 34,000 feet on a routing across northern Spain and along the French Atlantic coast toward the United Kingdom, according to AIRLIVE’s operational report. Roughly 90 minutes into the sector, the flight crew reported a technical failure involving the Yellow hydraulic circuit, selected transponder code 7700, and requested an immediate diversion into London airspace.
The crew nominated London Gatwick (LGW) as the diversion airport. AIRLIVE said the airline advised air traffic control that a Yellow-system fluid loss can affect nose-wheel steering or braking performance after landing, and that Luton or Stansted remained fallback options if Gatwick could not accept the aircraft.
U22014 touched down safely on Gatwick’s runway 26L at 11:34 UTC. Airport fire and rescue services met the twinjet on the taxiway after it cleared the runway. After an exterior safety inspection, the aircraft was cleared to taxi to a remote stand under its own power — meaning the crew did not need a tow to vacate the runway, and Gatwick’s single-runway-style congestion risk that can follow a steering loss did not materialise in this case.
easyJet confirmed that the diversion was carried out because of a technical issue and said a replacement aircraft was arranged so passengers could continue to Manchester. AIRLIVE’s account did not publish a passenger count or report injuries. No official cause for the Yellow-system failure had been issued at the time of writing; hydraulic leaks and component failures are investigated under airline and regulator procedures after the aircraft is secured.
On the Airbus A320 family, three continuously pressurised hydraulic systems — Green, Blue and Yellow — provide redundancy for flight controls, landing gear and braking. A Yellow-system loss leaves the aeroplane controllable on the remaining systems, but crews plan for degraded spoilers, alternate braking limitations and possible nose-wheel steering restrictions on rollout. Those checklist items explain why U22014 diverted promptly rather than continuing to Manchester with a known system failure.
Passengers who started the morning expecting a direct Alicante–Manchester arrival instead spent the middle of the day on the ground at Gatwick while easyJet positioned a replacement aircraft. AIRLIVE’s report did not describe a passenger evacuation or slide deployment; the emergency response was limited to the runway and taxiway escort typical of a declared technical diversion. That distinction matters for travellers reading social clips: a Squawk 7700 diversion is serious cockpit procedure, but Saturday’s outcome was a controlled landing and an onward rebooking rather than an evacuation.
Gatwick is a frequent diversion field for London-area traffic and for easyJet’s large UK network. Saturday’s event joins a short list of recent European technical diversions, but it remains a single-aircraft operational incident: the flight landed safely, emergency services stood down after the inspection, and passengers were re-accommodated onward to Manchester on a replacement jet.
Aviation Shop News will update this story if the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch, the Civil Aviation Authority, or easyJet publish a formal statement on the hydraulic failure or any resulting airworthiness action.
Images accompanying this article are AI-generated illustrations and are not photographs of Saturday’s diversion or of G-EZOI specifically.
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