Gatwick Airport has closed its runway and an investigation is under way after claims the surface started to break up.
Earlier, Gatwick
tweeted an apology to anyone impacted by the closure.
It said: "Our runway is temporarily closed while we carry out investigations. Apologies if you're impacted. We'll update you shortly."
BBC London Travel
tweeted there are reports the surface is breaking up with arrivals being diverted to Stansted and Bournemouth airports.
In a further statement, a spokesman for the airport said the main runway was temporarily closed at 15.48 BST while a reported issue was investigated.
He said: "We have now switched our operation to the Northern Runway and flights are departing and arriving from Gatwick.
"There will, however, be some delays to flights because of this.
"The safety and security of our airport and passengers is our number one priority, but we'd like to apologise to passengers impacted today."