Drone drama strands thousands of travellers at Gatwick Airport
Thousands of passengers faced travel disruptions on Thursday after drone sightings near Gatwick Airport led to flights being suspended or cancelled.
The runway at Britain’s second-busiest airport was closed on Wednesday evening after two drones were seen near by.
It was briefly reopened on Thursday morning before more drones were seen around the airport. The disruption is likely to affect thousands of passengers travelling in the pre-Christmas rush.
Gatwick apologised on Twitter but said: “The safety of our passengers and staff is our number one priority.”
Chris Woodroofe, Gatwick’s chief operating officer, said police were unable to shoot down the drone. “We also have the helicopter up in the air, but the police advice is that it would be dangerous to seek to shoot the drone down because of what may happen to the stray bullets,” Mr Woodroofe told BBC radio.
He said police were looking for the drone’s operator.
Flying a drone within a kilometre of an airport or airfield boundary is a criminal offence in Britain.
Gatwick has advised passengers not to travel to the airport without confirming their flight status with airlines.
Many passengers took to social media to air their frustration at the ongoing delays.
Kate Smith tweeted: “Sitting on a plane on the runway. Supposed to be flying to our oncein-a-lifetime trip to New Zealand. Unhappy. Hopefully we won’t miss the connection.”
Lyndsey Clarke said: “The staff have been amazing but unfortunately they have been subject to so much abuse we all just want to get home.”
Flights were diverted to other airports including London Heathrow, Luton, Birmingham and Manchester.
Some flights were diverted as far away as Paris and Amsterdam.
Christopher Lister, who was flying from Kiev to Gatwick, had his flight diverted to Birmingham. He said passengers waited more than six hours to leave the plane.
There were 92 recorded incidents of near collisions between drones and commercial aircraft in Britain last year.