Dampening the holiday spirits of thousands of passengers, flights were suspended yet again at London Gatwick Airport due to a fresh suspected drone sighting. Drones were sighted hovering around Britain's second-busiest air hub on Wednesday, bringing the runway to a standstill and instilling chaos for over 120,000 people. Flights had however resumed early Friday after military resources were brought in. However, they were halted again following a new suspected sighting.
A Gatwick spokeswoman said, “We have currently suspended airfield operations as a precaution due to a suspected drone sighting.” A man and a woman have been arrested in connection with the "criminal use of drones" which sparked chaos for three days at the airport. Superintendent James Collis of Sussex Police said, “Our investigations are still ongoing, and our activities at the airport continue to build resilience to detect and mitigate further incursions from drones by deploying a range of tactics. We continue to urge the public, passengers and the wider community around Gatwick to be vigilant and support us by contacting us immediately if they believe they have any information that can help us in bringing those responsible to justice.”
He added, “The arrests we have made this evening are a result of our determination to keep the public safe from harm, every line of inquiry will remain open to us until we are confident that we have mitigated further threats to the safety of passengers.” An airport spokesman said 91 of Friday's 412 scheduled arrivals were canceled, while 64 of 371 scheduled departures were also scrapped. Passengers, many of whom were trying to get home for Christmas, were asked to check the status of their flights before traveling to the airport. Gatwick's Chief Operating Officer Chris Woodroofe said the airport was only able to reopen its sole runway due to the “additional mitigating measures” provided by government agencies and the military.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said “military capabilities were being deployed”. He said, “There are a range of measures which are there today which should give passengers confidence that they are safe to fly.” Around 10,000 passengers were affected on Wednesday and a total of 110,000 who were due to either take off or land at the airport on 760 flights on Thursday.
Around 30 miles south of London, Gatwick is the eighth-busiest airport in Europe and behind Mumbai as the world's busiest single runway air hub. Inbound flights were diverted to other airports, including Paris, while passengers waiting to take off faced gruelling delays. As per a new British law, drones cannot be flown near aircraft or within a kilometre of an airport or at an altitude of over 400 feet. Violators can face up to five years in prison for endangering an aircraft.
A Portuguese passenger, Fons Braden, saw his flight scrapped yesterday. “They said the flight was delayed at first. We still stand in the queue, no other information and then half an hour before our flight was supposed to depart, they said, well, the flight is canceled. I just work around the corner in carsm” he said, adding the easiest solution might be to “drive to Portugal”. Another passenger conveyed his dissent saying, “I cannot understand why such a small thing can cause an international airport like Gatwick. They should be ready for these things. I really don't understand what we can do.”
