A Virgin Atlantic flight performed a "non-standard" landing at London's Gatwick airport on Monday after a landing gear problem, with television pictures showing the plane intact and stationary on the runway.
Gatwick airport said the plane had landed but that they were awaiting official confirmation of the flight's status.
The airline said in a statement before the landing: "Flight VS43 ... (has) returned to London Gatwick due to a technical issue with one of the landing gears," Virgin Atlantic said in a statement. "The aircraft is preparing to implement a non-standard landing procedure at Gatwick airport".
Flight tracking site flightradar24.com listed the aircraft as a Boeing 747. Data on the site and Virgin's own website showed it had left Gatwick for Las Vegas at 6.28 a.m. GMT before turning around shortly after passing the west coast of Britain. The plane was last shown heading back towards Gatwick.
Emergency services were on standby at Gatwick.
Virgin Atlantic is 51 percent owned by its founder, British billionaire Richard Branson and 49 percent owned by U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines.
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