GATWICK AIRPORT: British police were on Thursday frantically hunting for the operators of drones flown over London’s Gatwick airport, which forced the suspension of all flights, causing misery for tens of thousands of passengers just days before Christmas.

The airport’s authorities said its sole runway would stay shut until at least 4:00pm (1600 GMT) due to “drone sightings” that began on Wednesday evening.

“We have had within the last hour another drone sighting,” Gatwick’s chief operating officer Chris Woodroofe said on Thursday.

“It was on the airport, seen by the police, corroborated, and so having seen that drone that close to the runway it was unsafe to reopen,” he told BBC News.

Woodroofe said earlier it would be dangerous to shoot at the drone due to the danger of stray bullets.

Flights into Gatwick, around 50 kilometres south of the British capital, were diverted to other airports while passengers waiting to take off faced gruelling delays as airlines cancelled flights.

Some 10,000 passengers were affected on Wednesday night, and a further 110,000 were due to either take off or land at the airport on 760 flights on Thursday.

Gatwick is the eighth-busiest airport in Europe and sits behind Mumbai as the world’s busiest single runway air hub.

A cat-and-mouse manhunt is under way to catch those operating the drones, with more than 20 police units and dozens of officers from two local forces deployed.

Sussex Police said they believed that the devices “are of an industrial specification”.

Police superintendent Justin Burtenshaw said: “We believe this to be a deliberate act to disrupt the airport. However, there are absolutely no indications to suggest this is terror-related.” He added: “Each time we believe we get close to the operator, the drone disappears; when we look to reopen the airfield, the drone reappears.” Gisele Fenech, 43, who was travelling to Malta, was among those stranded at the airport.

“We’re meeting family and it’s my daughter’s birthday today so it’s gone all wrong. We’ve been looking forward to this for so long,” she told AFP.

Two drones were first spotted flying over Gatwick at around 9:00pm (2100 GMT) on Wednesday.

The airfield briefly reopened at 3:00am on Thursday, but had to be closed again following further sightings.

“Please do not set out for the airport for your flight without checking with your airline first,” the airport said on Twitter.

“We’re sorry for the disruption.” British Prime Minister Theresa May said. She sympathised with passengers impacted and vowed action.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2018