Drones paralyse British airport, grounding Christmas travellers

LONDON (Reuters): Britain sent troops to its second-biggest airport after an unprecedented attempt to cripple Christmas travel with large drones forced all flights to be cancelled on Thursday.

As thousands of passengers waited at Gatwick Airport, south of London, 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 of a terrorism motive behind the devices, which first appeared on Wednesday night.

“The assessment earlier on today was that we wouldn’t be using firearms,” Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley said late on Thursday. “This is continually reviewed so you will know and have seen that we have firearm officers deployed.”

Europe’s air traffic control agency Eurocontrol said the airport would remain closed until 0600 GMT on Friday.

The armed forces were also deployed to help resolve the situation.

“We are there to assist and do everything we can,” Defence Minister Gavin Williamson told reporters.

Drones were seen as recently as the last hour, a Gatwick spokesman said at about 2200 GMT on Thursday, 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”.

Flights were halted at 2103 GMT on Wednesday after two drones were spotted near the airfield, triggering the biggest disruption at Gatwick since a volcanic ash cloud in 2010.

Police said more than 20 units were hunting the operators near Gatwick airport, 50 km (30 miles) south of London.

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.”

With a surge in public enthusiasm for drones, there has been an increase in near-collisions by unmanned aircraft and commercial jets in recent years.

The number of near misses between private drones and aircraft in Britain more than tripled between 2015 and 2017, with 92 incidents recorded last year, according to the UK Airprox Board regulator.