Flights resume at London airport after US-bound plane with smoke in cockpit makes emergency landing

LONDON – Flights at London's Gatwick Airport resumed Monday following a temporary suspension of air traffic after a plane bound for Orlando was forced to make an landing when smoke was found inside the cockpit.

Passengers on the Virgin Atlantic Airways flight VS27 an Airbus A330 were evacuated from the plane via emergency slides, with some suffering from smoke inhalation. Fire officials said there were reports of a small fire.

Virgin Atlantic says four people out of the 13 crew members and 299 passengers onboard the plane suffered minor injuries.

All departures and arrivals at the airport were halted for an hour and a half while the plane was resting on a runway, a Gatwick spokeswoman said.

The incident was treated as a full emergency with fire engines dispatched to the plane, which left Gatwick shortly before 6:30 a.m. ET and had been expected in Florida at 3:35 p.m. ET.

The incident comes three days after flights at the airport, which is one of the UK's busiest, were disrupted briefly for "safety reasons" after a hot air balloon strayed into its airspace.

NewsCore and the Associated Press contributed to this report.