Two airliners carrying more than 500 passengers came within five seconds of disaster at Gatwick Airport.

One of the jets had to abort its landing as the other tried to take off directly into its flight path.

The Northwest Airlines DC-10, carrying 330, banked and swerved to avoid the Emirates Arlines Airbus setting off for Dubai with 220 on board.

Onlookers said the DC-10 was just 100ft from touching down when air traffic controllers raised the alarm.

The incoming airliner recovered and circled over the airport for ten minutes, then made a successful landing when the runway was clear.

No one was hurt but several passengers in the DC-10, arriving from Detroit, were left in shock.

One witness said: "It was so close. I was bracing myself for an explosion."

Another said: "Everyone drew in their breath as they watched what was happening."

Gatwick officials today insisted passenger safety was not put at risk.

A spokesman said: "What happened is what we call a 'go around' where the aircraft coming in to land are given a signal by air traffic control not to land because another plane is on the runway.

"In this case the aircraft aborted the landing and circled round before landing safely ten minutes later.

"There was no danger to the passengers and the safety distance between the planes was never compromised. It was simply a precaution."

Air traffic controllers described the manoeuvre as a textbook "go around".

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Richard Wright said: "With only one runway at Gatwick it is busy with planes using it to land and take off.

"Near misses don't usually take place at airports, it is normally in the air.

"It is dramatic and it is disconcerting for passengers because they can't see what is going on but the pilots can, and they are in full control of the situation."

A voluntary redundancy programme will see Air Traffic Control shed 226 jobs across the UK this year.