An Emirates Airbus A380-800, performing flight from London Gatwick to Dubai, was climbing out of Gatwick’s runway 26L when the aircraft was seen not retracting the landing gear.

The aircraft stopped the climb and entered a hold, subsequently diverted to London’s Heathrow Airport where the aircraft landed safely on runway 27R one hour after departure.

The occurrence aircraft was still on the ground in Heathrow about 7 hours after landing.

The airline reported a technical issue prompted the diversion to Heathrow. All passengers are being accomodated on flights from Heathrow to Dubai.

Multiple ground observers reported they saw the aircraft climb out without the gear being retracted, other observers reported the aircraft entered a hold near Southend with the gear extended.