London, June 19: A Dubai-bound Emirates flight, taking off from London's Gatwick airport was rerouted back to the city's Heathrow airport, shortly after the takeoff. The diversion was caused due to a technical glitch in the flight, Emirates officials said.

The flight, numbered EK016, took off from Gatwick airport at 16:30 hrs. However, the aircraft was landed back at Heathrow within 20 minutes. All passengers were immediately evacuated following the emergency landing. The flight was sent for technical evaluation.

All other passengers were accommodated on another Emirates flight taking off from London Heathrow and flying towards Dubai. The international carrier issued a note of apology to the commuters for the inconvenience caused.

The last major glitch involving an Emirate-flight was reported in July last year, when the carrier's Dubai-bound aircraft in India's Ahmedabad failed to take off for nearly five hours due to a technical fault.

About Emirates Airline

Founded in 1985 with the financial backing of Dubai's royal family, Emirates has grown into the largest private-carrier in the Middle East. It is the world's fourth largest in terms of international passengers carried and the second-largest in terms of freight tonne kilometers flown. In March 2016, it earned the feat of flying the world's longest-duration non-stop commercial flight from Auckland to Dubai.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 19, 2018 11:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).