London's Gatwick Airport said on Friday that its runway was "currently available," with a limited number of departures and arrivals planned, after the airport was shut for more than 30 hours due to drone activity in the area.
In a notice posted on its website early on Friday, the airport said it would try "to introduce a limited number of flights" in the course of the morning.
Two drones flying over the airport caused officials to suspend and divert flights on Wednesday and Thursday. The airport's runway remains closed until further notice, following multiple drone sightings that began Wednesday evening. Although the runway was reopened at 3 a.m. (03:00 UTC) on Thursday, another drone sighting 45 minutes later caused it to be closed again.
As a result, planes were unable to depart, while a number of flights scheduled to land were diverted to other airports.
Police described the drones as "unusually large."
British carrier easyJet was one airline that canceled all remaining flights Thursday, saying, "At this stage, there is no indication of when the airport might reopen." Irish carrier Ryanair on Thursday night announced that it would reroute all of its Friday Gatwick flights through Stansted Airport instead, citing "ongoing issues."
Key data:
- More than 120,000 passengers affected
- Army deployed on site to assist police
- Perpetrator(s) remain at large
- UK's second-largest airport, processing 125,000 passengers daily
Police investigation
UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling told UK broadcaster Sky News Thursday evening that his agency would "temporarily be lifting the night-flight restrictions" at other airports in an attempt to relieve congestion created by the Gatwick incident.
Gatwick Airport said the incident was being investigated by police and that an update would be issued once authorities had "suitable reassurance that it is appropriate to re-open the runway."
Late Thursday afternoon BBC defense correspondent Jonathan Beale tweeted that the Ministry of Defense was in "discussions with the police about any military capability that could be provided to assist with their operation."
A spokesman for Downing Street also reported that Prime Minister Theresa May was receiving regular updates on the situation. Earlier in the day, May spoke of the seriousness of the incident and expressed her sympathies for stranded passengers. Currently, government officials are meeting to "make sure that all available resources are being deployed."
Despite May's claims that the UK government had already enacted laws to stop such drone incursions, Britain's Guild of Air Traffic Control Officers says its calls for geofencing, which uses software to prevent drones from entering restricted airspace, "have been repeatedly dismissed by regulatory bodies." The organization also warned that incidents like the one currently playing out at Gatwick will "continue to be a threat until appropriate measures are taken."
A 'deliberate act'
Police said the drone flights were a "deliberate act to disrupt the airport," but that there were "absolutely no indications to suggest this is terror-related."
"We are continuing to search for the operators," Sussex police said. Authorities wrote on Twitter asking for the public's help in finding the operator of the drones, including a direct phone line.
Chris Woodroofe, Gatwick's chief operating officer, said the shutdown had affected roughly 10,000 people by Thursday morning, including 2,000 whose planes were not allowed to take off, 2,000 who were unable to leave their points of origin and 6,000 who were diverted to other airports in Britain and Europe. Gatwick Airport reports that some 760 flights were scheduled to arrive and depart Thursday, affecting another 110,000 people.
A growing problem
In July 2018, the UK made it illegal to fly a drone within 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) of an airport, in an effort to tackle the issue.
The number of near misses between private drones and aircraft more than tripled between 2015 and 2017. Some 92 incidents were recorded 2017, while 117 have taken place so far this year, according to the UK Airprox Board.
"Even two kilograms of metal and plastic, including the battery, hitting an aircraft windscreen, engine, or a helicopter tail rotor, could be catastrophic," Rob Hunter, head of flight safety at the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA), said in a recent statement.
In October, an unmanned device "put 130 lives at risk" after nearly hitting an aircraft that was approaching the airport, BALPA said.
The closing comes ahead of the busy Christmas season. Gatwick, Britain's second-busiest airport after Heathrow — Europe's biggest airport — is expecting a "record-breaking" 2.9 million passengers during the holidays.
