Flights suspended by drones at Gatwick

Tens of thousands of passengers at one of the UK’s busiest airports are experiencing flight disruption after drones were seen over the airfield.

Gatwick’s runway remains closed after two of the devices were seen nearby.

Flights are unable to take off or land and Gatwick said 110,000 passengers on 760 flights were due to use the airport on Thursday.

Police were still hunting for the drone operator after another device was reported just before 07:00 GMT.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: “There is absolutely nothing to suggest that this is terrorism-related.”

Gatwick chief operating officer Chris Woodroofe said police had not wanted to shoot the devices down because of the risk from stray bullets.

Those due to travel have been told to check the status of their flight, while Easyjet told its passengers not to go to Gatwick if their flights have been cancelled.

European air traffic management group Eurocontrol said the runway would remain closed until 11:00 .

The shutdown started just after 21:00 on Wednesday when two drones were spotted being flown over the airfield.

The runway was briefly reopened at about 03:01, the airport said, but forced to close again about 45 minutes later amid “a further sighting of drones”.

About 10,000 passengers were affected overnight on Wednesday, with some flights landing in Paris and Amsterdam.

1/2 Thurs 09.15: All flights to and from Gatwick are suspended due to ongoing drone activity activity around the airport. Unfortunately, there are significant delays and cancellations to all flights today.

— Gatwick Airport LGW (@Gatwick_Airport) December 20, 2018