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Gatwick airport drone disruption - live updates Gatwick airport disruption: police still trying to catch drones after flights cancelled - live
(35 minutes later)
Labour says the government has been too slow at address safety concerns about drones.
Shadow transport secretary, Andy McDonald said: “Events at Gatwick Airport highlight the urgent need for clear rules on the use of drones near airports. There has been growing concern over the increasing number of near misses between drones and manned aircraft and the government has been too slow to act.
He added: “The government should fast-track the introduction of a regulatory framework to protect against the misuse of drones and ensure the safety of UK airspace. This should include a drone exclusion zone around airports.”
Transport minister, Baroness Sugg, is due to give a statement about the disruption at Gatwick, in an update to the House of Lords at 11.35am.
I have just granted a PNQ from Baroness @jennyranderson to ask @transportgovuk Minister, Baroness Sugg, what the HMG response is to the disruption at @Gatwick_Airport caused by drone activity. Watch from 11.35am here: https://t.co/86Hwdwg8GN #drones #Gatwick
Sussex Police is asking for the public’s help in locating the Gatwick drone operator.
#GatwickDrones | We are appealing for information to help us identify the operators of the #Gatwick #drones. If you know who's responsible or have any information please call 999 and quote ref 1350-19/12. Please RT pic.twitter.com/jkcakBohMr
There is barely enough space for passengers to navigate trolleys piled high with luggage around the check-in desks , as passengers just arriving at the airport are told on information screens that there would be no flights until at least 11am. Arthur Serbejs, 22, and Domante Balciuniate, 21, factory workers from Hastings, sat on the floor by a prayer room, approaching their 16th hour of waiting for a flight to Barcelona.
“We came about 6pm yesterday, and we’re going to be here until like 7pm,” Serbejs said. “At 9pm yesterday we were on the plane for four hours - they turned the lights off and everything like it was going to take off.”
“But we were still sitting there,” Balciunate added. Serbejs said he had fallen asleep while the plane sat on the apron, hoping to wake up in Spain, “and I woke up and we hadn’t moved.”
Eventually they were taken off the flight, and offered a hotel in Brighton, which they declined as they live close by. They were told they would get an email with a ticked for another flat, but none came. “We stood in line for three hours for a 30 second conversation saying ‘your flight has already been transferred hours ago’, but we didn’t know about it,” Serbejs said.
“It’s crazy, it’s my worst airport experience.”
“We don’t even expect to go to Barcelona anymore,” Balciunate said. “Maybe there’s another drone up there - but we have hope. There’s a prayer room over there, we were thinking about going.”
"Maybe there's another drone up there, but we have hope. There's a prayer room over there, we were thinking about going."Domante Balciunate, 21, and Arthur Serbejs, 22, who are at #gatwick in the middle of an expected 25-hour delay to their long weekend in Barcelona. pic.twitter.com/CgqYQlPSdH
PA has also been talking to some of the thousands of passengers disrupted by the incident.
Chris Lister, from Somerset, who owns an online business, was travelling back from Kiev with his wife Freya.
He was due to land at Gatwick at 9.45pm on Wednesday but ended up trapped on the plane on the tarmac at Birmingham Airport until 6am.
“There were quite a few babies and kids on board, I think they were struggling more than we were and one woman had run out milk,” he said. After starting his journey in Bangkok on Tuesday he was finally let off the plane at 6am, he said. Joseph Ouechen, a photographer from Morocco, was due to fly into Gatwick on Wednesday night but had his flight diverted to Paris.
After arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport at midnight, passengers with visas for the Schengen area were taken to a hotel but those without - “about 20%” - were left in the airport to fend for themselves, he said.
“There were families with babies who couldn’t get to their suitcases for their milk and stuff,” he said. “We were asking just for a favour if (airport staff) could help but they said they couldn’t do anything.” Firefighters eventually crossed the border through passport control with blankets and water at 3.30am, he said.
“To be honest, I’m so tired and when the guys from the fire (service) came with the bottles and blankets I was feeling like a war, like (I was) a refugee, but I’m just flying to the UK.
“It’s surreal. I was flying to the UK and now there are firemen bringing me water and blankets.”
Mamosta Abdulla said he was on an Iraq-bound flight on Wednesday evening before getting stuck on the tarmac for four hours. He will miss his father’s memorial service, he said.
“We got here at 6pm and should have flown at 9.10pm, but we were stuck four hours on the plane with a crying baby, the child was disabled and everyone was sweating because it was so hot in there,” he said. Passengers were given a 12 voucher for food, he added, but were left to sleep “in a freezing place on uncomfortable chairs”.
“We are in Iraq with bombs going off nearby and the plane still lands. But here some drones have shut down the airport.”
Sussex Police confirmed there are no indications to suggest the drone incident is terror related.
#GatwickDrones | We are carrying out a joint search w/ @Gatwick_Airport for the operators of #drones sighted at #Gatwick. Public safety is paramount and we will take all available actions to disrupt this deliberate act. There are no indications to suggest this is terror related. pic.twitter.com/J36d0Xzo2G
Supt Justin Burtenshaw, Gatwick Airport policing commander, is in charge of trying catch the drone operator.
Speaking to BBC News, he said: “We are still getting sightings of the drone in and around the airfield. I have got over 20 units from Surrey and Sussex and from the airport searching for the drone operator. We are exploring other options to try and bring this situation to a close.”
He said the police believe operator is deliberately trying to disrupt the airport, but there has been no intelligence that this is a terrorist incident.
Burtenshaw, a former head of armed policing at Sussex and Surrey, added:
“Each time we believe we get close to the operator the drone disappears when we look to reopen the airfield the drone reappears, so I’m absolutely convinced it is a deliberate act to disrupt Gatwick airport.
There has been no intelligence that this is going to happen. This is just a random act that has happened overnight.
“I’m convinced we will [capture the operator]. It is a painstaking thing. The bigger the drone the further the reach of the operator so it is a difficult and challenging thing to locate them. But I’ve got teams and investigators looking at how we do that and I’m confident we will.
"I'm absolutely convinced it's a deliberate act to disrupt #Gatwick Airport" - Superintendent Justin Burtenshaw says more than 20 police units are searching for the drone operatorhttps://t.co/wDW0Rtnkq1 pic.twitter.com/Fh98WmaCjL
More than 13 hours after a drone was first spotted over Gatwick the police are still trying to bring it down.More than 13 hours after a drone was first spotted over Gatwick the police are still trying to bring it down.
Transport minister Baroness Sugg “The police are working to bring the drone down, and I am confident that they will do so.”Transport minister Baroness Sugg “The police are working to bring the drone down, and I am confident that they will do so.”
She added: “Our priority is to get that airport open as safely as possible so that people can fly off on their Christmas breaks, or people who are coming in to visit friends and family.”She added: “Our priority is to get that airport open as safely as possible so that people can fly off on their Christmas breaks, or people who are coming in to visit friends and family.”
Various techniques are available for combatting drones, including eagles:Various techniques are available for combatting drones, including eagles:
And a signal jamming Sky Fence that has been successfully deployed around Guernsey prison.And a signal jamming Sky Fence that has been successfully deployed around Guernsey prison.
Anti-drone technology could be introduced in English prisonsAnti-drone technology could be introduced in English prisons
LNER is offering those whose flights have been cancelled between Edinburgh and Gatwick free rail travel.LNER is offering those whose flights have been cancelled between Edinburgh and Gatwick free rail travel.
Has your flight between London #GatwickAirport and Edinburgh been cancelled today? If so, you can use your flight tickets to travel on our trains today for FREE. #HomeforChristmas 🎅 https://t.co/iEB3oRh2NvHas your flight between London #GatwickAirport and Edinburgh been cancelled today? If so, you can use your flight tickets to travel on our trains today for FREE. #HomeforChristmas 🎅 https://t.co/iEB3oRh2Nv
Suzanne Donnelly, Commercial Director at LNER, said: “We know how important it is to get to where you’re going and are delighted that we are able to step in and help out.”Suzanne Donnelly, Commercial Director at LNER, said: “We know how important it is to get to where you’re going and are delighted that we are able to step in and help out.”
And EasyJet is offering free flight transfers.And EasyJet is offering free flight transfers.
Customers on cancelled flights will be entitled to a free of charge transfer to an alternative flight. Whilst the situation is outside of our control we would like to apologise to passengers for the inconvenience caused.Customers on cancelled flights will be entitled to a free of charge transfer to an alternative flight. Whilst the situation is outside of our control we would like to apologise to passengers for the inconvenience caused.
The Guardian’s Damien Gayle has been dispatched to Gatwick to monitor the chaos. Here’s the first of his updates:
Passengers just arriving by train at #gatwick are being told that there will be no flights until at least 11am. pic.twitter.com/X8H182afGl
If you’ve been affected by the events at Gatwick and would like to share eyewitness accounts or news tips, anonymously if you prefer, with our journalists then please do so via the form here. The form is encrypted and your responses are only seen by the Guardian. You can also contact the Guardian via WhatsApp by adding the contact +44(0)7867825056.
Tory MP Henry Smith MP, whose Crawley constituency borders Gatwick, said drone activity at the airport “appears to a be deliberate criminal act”. He is calling for tougher sentences against illegal drone operators. “The sentence is now 5 years in prison but further efforts are clearly required,” he tweeted.
The closure of Gatwick Airport for 12 hours now due to drone flying appears to be a deliberate criminal act with geofencing breached. I’ve previously raised this issue in Parliament and will be again. The sentence is now 5 years in prison but further efforts are clearly required.
Andri Kyprianou, from Cyprus, who had been visiting London, said she saw a pregnant woman sleeping on the floor and passengers with infants spending the night in the “freezing” South Terminal, PA reports.
She said she got to the airport at 12.30am for a 3am flight to Cyprus via Kiev, only to find it had been cancelled, and that the next connection in Kiev is on Sunday.
She said:
“I haven’t slept since yesterday morning, we are very tired. It’s freezing, we are cold, having to wear all of these coats for extra blankets.
“There were pregnant women, one of them was sleeping on the floor. There were people with small babies in here overnight, we saw disabled people on chairs.
“There were young children sleeping on the floor.”
She said she will have to spend a night in Kiev, but she had been told by Ukrainian Airlines that there may be a chance of an alternative connection through Tel Aviv.
Here’s the grim looking arrivals board at Gatwick, courtesy of PA.
Ten thousand passengers have suffered flight chaos after the runway at Gatwick Airport was closed due to drones being flown nearby pic.twitter.com/Lt2k9jz21d
Gatwick is now expected to be closed until at least 12pm, according to Airlive citing the European aviation agency Eurocontrol.
UPDATE London Gatwick closure now extended till 12.00 UTC https://t.co/mA8kWbsU0D
The government has condemned the operators of the drones as acting “incredibly irresponsibly”.
Aviation minister Baroness Sugg said:
“These drones have been flown illegally and the operators, who have acted incredibly irresponsibly, could face up to five years in jail.
“We are in close contact with Gatwick Airport as they work with police to safely resolve the situation as quickly as possible.”
Aviation Minister Baroness Sugg: “These drones have been flown illegally and the operators, who have acted incredibly irresponsibly, could face up to five years in jail.” https://t.co/D1buFJyIOL
Pilots said the Gatwick incident highlights the need for tougher laws against drones.
Dr Rob Hunter, head of flight safety at the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA), said:
“The public needs to understand that drones are not just toys and could have catastrophic consequences if they collide with an aircraft.
We know a lot of drones will be under people’s Christmas trees and we implore them to ensure they’re aware of the rules and fly their drones in a safe and sensible manner.”
“These drone sightings at Gatwick are further evidence that tougher laws and enforcement are required to keep drones clear of manned flights.
“That’s why we need the registration and education process in force sooner rather than later, so people flouting the law can be caught and prosecuted.
“At the same time, BALPA is also calling for the government to consider toughening the law to create a larger no-fly zone around airports.
“We need to ensure people flying drones take responsibility for their actions and do so responsibly with the knowledge that if they endanger an aircraft they could face jail.”
“These drone sightings at Gatwick are further evidence that we need the registration and education process in force sooner rather than later, so people flouting the law can be caught and prosecuted." https://t.co/VkADrTDttV
Gatwick is to remain closed until at least 11am according Airlive.
ALERT London Gatwick to remain closed till at least 11.00 UTC https://t.co/mA8kWbsU0D
A Gatwick spokesman said 110,000 passengers were due to either take off or land at the airport on 760 flights on Thursday.
He was unable to state how many of these passengers had already been affected but the first wave of flights is normally the busiest time of the day.
Around 10,000 passengers were affected on Wednesday night after the runway was closed at 9.03pm.
Welcome to live coverage of the continuing travel disruption at Gatwick airport after drones over the runway caused flights to be suspended.
Chris Woodroofe, the airport’s chief operating officer, apologised to passengers and said the drones could not be shot down because of the risk of stray bullets causing harm.
Police from two forces have been scouring the perimeter to try to catch the operators of the drones which were first spotted at 9pm on Wednesday night.
Speaking to Sky News on Thursday morning Woodroofe said: “As I stand here, there is a drone on my airfield as we speak.”
Gatwick is advising passengers not to travel to the airport without checking with their airline first.
Thursday 07.40: Flights to and from Gatwick remain suspended, due to drone activity. Please do not travel to the airport without checking with your airline first. We 're sorry for the inconvenience today, but the safety of our passengers and staff is our no.1 priority.
Gatwick airport suspends flights after reports of drones over runway