AN EASYJET flight was forced to divert its landing to a nearby airport after being disrupted by weather.

The EZY8216 flight departed from Heraklion, Crete, at 2.10pm on September 12 and was scheduled to land at London Gatwick at 4.01pm the same day.

The twin-jet Airbus A320 jet was forced to divert its flight to Southampton Airport due to ‘strong winds’.

The plane was also seen circling around Bournemouth Airport before deciding to land at Southampton at 5.13pm.

Taxi’s were offered to passengers who were disrupted by the diversion.

Andy Cockburn, an EasyJet spokesman, said: “Flight EZY8216 from Heraklion to London Gatwick diverted to Southampton as a result of ATC restrictions in place due to strong winds at Gatwick.

“As a result of the diversion and delay it meant the crew would have reached their maximum legally regulated flying hours and unfortunately the flight could no longer operate to Gatwick.

“We arranged taxis for those customers who wished to continue their journeys to Gatwick and will reimburse customers who incurred any reasonable expenses. 

“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and while this is outside of our control we would like to apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused by the weather.”