{"id":5659,"date":"2018-12-20T09:04:15","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T09:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/gatwick-airport-drone-sightings-cause-delays\/"},"modified":"2018-12-20T09:04:15","modified_gmt":"2018-12-20T09:04:15","slug":"gatwick-airport-drone-sightings-cause-delays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/gatwick-airport-drone-sightings-cause-delays\/","title":{"rendered":"Gatwick Airport: Drone sightings cause delays"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Passengers stranded at Gatwick waited for updates on their travel options
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Thousands of passengers at one of the UK’s busiest airports are experiencing flight disruption after drones were seen over the airfield.<\/p>\n

Gatwick’s runway remains closed after two of the devices were seen nearby.<\/p>\n

About 10,000 passengers were affected as flights were unable to take off and incoming planes were redirected – with some landing in Paris and Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

Chief operating officer Chris Woodroofe said staff were trying to find a drone reported as still being in the air.<\/p>\n

Passengers due to travel have been told to check the status of their flight<\/a>, while Easyjet told its customers not to go to Gatwick if their flights have been cancelled.<\/p>\n

European air traffic management group Eurocontrol said the runway would remain closed until 11:00 GMT. <\/p>\n

Gatwick Airport: Live updates<\/a><\/p>\n

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Image copyright<\/span>
\n PA<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n Flights were diverted to other airports following the runway closure
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The shutdown started just after 21:00 on Wednesday when two drones were spotted being flown over the airfield.<\/p>\n

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”.<\/p>\n

Police units and a helicopter were still hunting for the drone operator after another device was reported just before 07:00 GMT,<\/p>\n

Mr Woodroofe told the BBC two drones had been seen flying “over the perimeter fence and into where the runway operates from”, sparking “very significant disruption”. <\/p>\n

He said police had not wanted to shoot the devices down because of the risk from stray bullets.<\/p>\n

It is illegal to fly a drone within 1km of an airport or airfield boundary. <\/p>\n

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Image copyright<\/span>
\n Eddie Mitchell<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n Passengers say many people have been forced to sleep on the floor overnight at the airport
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Planes were diverted to other airports including London Heathrow, Luton and Manchester.<\/p>\n

Aviation website airlive.net<\/a> said some services were re-routed as far away as Cardiff, Paris and Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

Crowds of passengers waited inside Gatwick’s terminal for updates, while others reported being stuck on waiting planes for several hours.<\/p>\n

Kasia Jaworska told the BBC she had been travelling from Glasgow to Gatwick with her boyfriend when her flight was diverted to Luton.<\/p>\n

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Media caption<\/span>Passengers affected by disruption at Gatwick Airport spoke of their frustration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After spending about two hours on the plane, she said the couple were put on a bus to Gatwick, from where they had been due to fly to Istanbul.<\/p>\n

Ms Jaworska said she thought it was “strange” that two drones had led to the closure of the airport.<\/p>\n

“You would imagine there would be better security in place and emergency action for something like that,” she added.<\/p>\n

Christopher Lister, who had been returning from Kiev, posted a picture of people sleeping “on every seat and across the floors” on board his flight.<\/p>\n

He said the photo was taken six hours after the plane – which was due to arrive at Gatwick – landed in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

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Luke McComiskie, whose flight ended up in Manchester, described chaotic scenes as people tried to find their way home after more than three hours stuck onboard.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old, from Aldershot, told the Press Association: “We got told there would be some arrangements with coaches for us when we get out the terminal.<\/p>\n

“It was just chaos and they had only two coaches and taxis charging people \u00a3600 to get to Gatwick.”<\/p>\n

Eddie Boyes said he and his family had been at the airport for six hours and people were sleeping on the floor. <\/p>\n

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\n Skip Twitter post by @eddieboyes1965<\/a><\/p>\n
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Whilst the airport remains closed, I and my family, along with many others, have been here for six hours. We where offered a hotel only for that to be rescinded shortly afterwards. People sleeping on floor in south terminal, utter shambles,no info #Gatwick<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 eddie boyes (@eddieboyes1965) December 20, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

End of Twitter post by @eddieboyes1965<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Drones and airports<\/h2>\n

The law says:<\/p>\n