Updated
The United Kingdom has sent troops to Gatwick Airport after large drones forced all flights to be cancelled in an unprecedented attempt to cripple Christmas travel.
Key points:
- A police hunt for the drone operators has so far been unsuccessful
- The airport will remain closed until 6:00am local time (5:00pm AEDT)
- Some 115,000 people were scheduled to pass through the airport today but flights are now shut down
As thousands of passengers waited at Britain’s second-largest airport, police hunted unsuccessfully for the operators of the large drones which reappeared near the airfield every time the airport tried to reopen the runway.
Police said there was no indication the people using the drones, which first appeared on Wednesday night, had terrorism-linked motivations.
“We will be deploying the armed forces,” Defence Minister Gavin Williamson told reporters. “We are there to assist and do everything we can.”
Europe’s air traffic control agency Eurocontrol said the airport would remain closed until 6:00am GMT (5:00pm AEDT) on Friday.
Drones were seen as recently as the last hour, a Gatwick spokesman said at about 10:00pm on Thursday (9:00am AEDT on Friday), more than 24 hours after their first sighting.
The airport said flights would remain shut down for the rest of the evening on a day when 115,000 people were scheduled to pass through, many en route to seasonal breaks.
Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman condemned the standoff as “irresponsible and completely unacceptable”.
Passenger Ani Kochiashvili was bound for Georgia, but instead spent six hours overnight sitting on a plane with her children.
“I’m very annoyed because I’m with two kids, a three-month-old and three-year-old,” she said by phone, among thousands camped in the terminal.
“They require a lot of space and food and changing and all that, and the airport is crazy busy, so it’s challenging.”
Flights were halted on Wednesday evening after the two drones were spotted near the airfield, 50 kilometres south of London, triggering the biggest disruption at Gatwick since a volcanic ash cloud in 2010.
Police said more than 20 units were hunting the operators. Transport Minister Chris Grayling said it was clearly a deliberate act.
“This is a commercial-sized drone,” he said. “Every time Gatwick tries to re-open the runway, the drones reappear.”
Mr Grayling temporarily lifted night-flying restrictions at other airports to ease congestion caused by diverted aircraft, Sky News reported.
Reuters
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