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| Gatwick airport drone chaos: operator not yet found but flights resume – live | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Bolstered patrols are meanwhile taking place around other UK airports to watch out for any similar threats of the type which brought Gatwick to a standstill, the transport secretary also revealed this morning. | |
| Chris Grayling added: “We’re going to be talking very quickly indeed to other airports about other measures they can also take and we should be looking to take to make sure this can’t happen elsewhere.” | |
| A colleague at Gatwick Airport who is waiting to catch a flight to the continent has been in touch. Annie Kelly says: | |
| It is absolutely rammed, every seat full but generally very calm. Lots of conspiracy theories swirling among passengers but flights are going regularly, albeit many with two or three hours delay and nobody seems angry. | |
| There’s even a Santa ringing a sleigh bell walking around the packed departure area. | |
| Gatwick’s runway has reopened and a limited number of planes have arrived and departed, after the airport was shut for almost 36 hours by drone sightings overhead. | |
| The airport said “additional mitigating measures” put in place by the police and military were allowing planes to fly again, although at least 100 of the 753 scheduled flights on Friday were set to be cancelled, with planes and crews out of place, and many have already been delayed. | |
| More than 126,000 passengers were due to fly out today, after 110,000 were booked on cancelled flights yesterday. A first arrival from China landed at aroundabout 6am and the first departure, a Norwegian Airlines flight to Lapland, took off soon after. | |
| The operator of the drone or drones has yet to be discovered, but no further sightings have been recorded since late yesterday, the airport said. | |
| Sussex police said they were pursuing several lines of inquiry and an environmental protest was “a possibility”, but the force was not linking the drone to terrorism. The airport’s runway was first closed after sightings at about 9pm on Wednesday. | |
| The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, who yesterday claimed that “substantial drones” had caused the chaos, today admitted that it was uncertain if there was more than one. | |
| He denied he had ignored warnings, and said he was planning to hold talks with airports soon to discuss the lessons of Gatwick and try to prevent similar disruption. | |
| Pilots’ unions, opposition politicians and other aviation bodies yesterday have called for tougher measures and immediate action, including wider exclusion zones around airports. | |
| Grayling told the BBC’s Today programme that it was “a new kind of attack” and that the perpetrator would face a substantial jail sentence. He said it was “unlikely to be” the action of a foreign state, but wasn’t was not ruling anything out. | |
| Airports are facing a “new kind of threat” Chris Grayling has said, adding that he was not ruling out any possibility in terms of who was responsible for the chaos. | |
| “It could be an environmental protest but we genuinely don’t known” he said on the Today Programme. | |
| It was “unlikely” that the drone was the work of a foreign state but “we genuinely don’t know.” | |
| Whoever was responsible should face the full rigour of the law, added the Transport Secretary, who said: “They need to go to jail for a long time.” | |
| Grayling was pressed on how and why it took so long for measures to be put in place to enable the airport to open again and insisted that he and others had been working on a solution since the problem first became apparent. | |
| There are anti-drone technologies that are now available but there is not a single “off the shelf” solution, he said. | |
| Grayling said that you “can’t just shoot down a drone” and gave the example of somewhere else in the world where he said that hundreds of bullets had been fired from a machine gun and yet a drone had not been brought down. | |
| Discussions with other airports around the UK are going to be convened as quickly as possible, the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling has said. | Discussions with other airports around the UK are going to be convened as quickly as possible, the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling has said. |
| “This kind of incident is unprecedented anywhere in the world, the disruption of an airport in this way,” he has told BBC Breakfast. | “This kind of incident is unprecedented anywhere in the world, the disruption of an airport in this way,” he has told BBC Breakfast. |
| “We’re going to have to learn very quickly from what’s happened. I plan to convene discussion with other airports around the UK very quickly indeed so that they know what’s happened, they understand what lessons need to be learned, and we’ve put in place every measure we possibly can to ensure this can’t happen again.” | “We’re going to have to learn very quickly from what’s happened. I plan to convene discussion with other airports around the UK very quickly indeed so that they know what’s happened, they understand what lessons need to be learned, and we’ve put in place every measure we possibly can to ensure this can’t happen again.” |
| Grayling said there had been around 40 sightings of what were thought to be a “small number of drones” while the airport was closed. | Grayling said there had been around 40 sightings of what were thought to be a “small number of drones” while the airport was closed. |
| “It certainly wasn’t a lot, it was the same small number of drones seen many times,” he said | “It certainly wasn’t a lot, it was the same small number of drones seen many times,” he said |
| Asked if it was terror-related, he said: “It’s a different kind of disruption. Certainly there’s no evidence it’s terror-related in the conventional sense, not linked - as far as we’re aware - to an international terrorist group.” | Asked if it was terror-related, he said: “It’s a different kind of disruption. Certainly there’s no evidence it’s terror-related in the conventional sense, not linked - as far as we’re aware - to an international terrorist group.” |
| “But it’s clearly a kind of disruptive activity that we’ve not seen before.” | “But it’s clearly a kind of disruptive activity that we’ve not seen before.” |
| The number of drone sightings at Gatwick Airport since Wednesday has been “unprecedented” but police now have “a number of options” around its perimeter to help prevent further disruption, according to Sussex Police assistant chief constable Steve Barry. | The number of drone sightings at Gatwick Airport since Wednesday has been “unprecedented” but police now have “a number of options” around its perimeter to help prevent further disruption, according to Sussex Police assistant chief constable Steve Barry. |
| Here’s what the airspace around London looks like this morning, meanwhile: | Here’s what the airspace around London looks like this morning, meanwhile: |
| Airspace around London today.. picking up around Gatwick but some way to go pic.twitter.com/5BQSZx3cnv | Airspace around London today.. picking up around Gatwick but some way to go pic.twitter.com/5BQSZx3cnv |
| Christ Woodroofe, Gatwick’s Chief operating officer, had this advice this morning to passengers: | Christ Woodroofe, Gatwick’s Chief operating officer, had this advice this morning to passengers: |
| Our advice to our passengers is to check with their airline on each of those flights that they’re intending to get, to establish whether it’s one of the flights that’s being operated or one of the flights that’s being cancelled, before they come to the airport. | Our advice to our passengers is to check with their airline on each of those flights that they’re intending to get, to establish whether it’s one of the flights that’s being operated or one of the flights that’s being cancelled, before they come to the airport. |
| I’d just like to apologise to all of those affected over the last 36 hours - 120,000 passengers who were due to fly to their destinations or arrive into Gatwick who have not travelled. | I’d just like to apologise to all of those affected over the last 36 hours - 120,000 passengers who were due to fly to their destinations or arrive into Gatwick who have not travelled. |
| We’re expecting to hear from the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, within the next half an hour. | We’re expecting to hear from the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, within the next half an hour. |
| Gatwick has been reopened due to “additional mitigating measures” that have been put in place in collaboration with government agencies and the military, Gatwick’s Chief Operating Officer has said. | Gatwick has been reopened due to “additional mitigating measures” that have been put in place in collaboration with government agencies and the military, Gatwick’s Chief Operating Officer has said. |
| Chris Woodroofe, who was speaking on BBC’s Today Programme in the last half an hour, said that he couldn’t comment on whether that means that the drone will be shot down if it appears again. | Chris Woodroofe, who was speaking on BBC’s Today Programme in the last half an hour, said that he couldn’t comment on whether that means that the drone will be shot down if it appears again. |
| “You’ll appreciate that there are certain things I can’t talk about in detail,” he said when pressed | “You’ll appreciate that there are certain things I can’t talk about in detail,” he said when pressed |
| However, he did add that what the last 24 hours have shown is that a lot more work needs to be done at international airports to prepare and counteract such events. | However, he did add that what the last 24 hours have shown is that a lot more work needs to be done at international airports to prepare and counteract such events. |
| “We need to do work with both technology providers and governments to address this risk,” he said | “We need to do work with both technology providers and governments to address this risk,” he said |
| Gatwick had been working on issues around the threat from drones for more than a year but the reality is that today “there is still no commercial solution that is licensed to operate at airports that is proven,” he said. | Gatwick had been working on issues around the threat from drones for more than a year but the reality is that today “there is still no commercial solution that is licensed to operate at airports that is proven,” he said. |
| “We have called in government agencies and the military to assist us in getting Gatwick open again to counteract this unprecedented event, this criminal act.” | “We have called in government agencies and the military to assist us in getting Gatwick open again to counteract this unprecedented event, this criminal act.” |
| He expected just under seven hundred departures to go through the airport today, a reduction of one hundred flights. | He expected just under seven hundred departures to go through the airport today, a reduction of one hundred flights. |
| However, he agreed that the continuity of operations depended on whether or not the drone would be spotted again. | However, he agreed that the continuity of operations depended on whether or not the drone would be spotted again. |
| Folks, I’m signing off now and handing over to my colleague Ben Quinn. | Folks, I’m signing off now and handing over to my colleague Ben Quinn. |
| Thanks for following along over these last, frankly quite exciting, hours. Keep checking in as we see how things go at Gatwick, whether the drone reappears and what news there is of the search for the drone operator(s). | Thanks for following along over these last, frankly quite exciting, hours. Keep checking in as we see how things go at Gatwick, whether the drone reappears and what news there is of the search for the drone operator(s). |
| The Gatwick COO says they are expecting to see 700 departures from the airport on Friday and that these planned departures depend on whether there are any more sightings of the drone. | The Gatwick COO says they are expecting to see 700 departures from the airport on Friday and that these planned departures depend on whether there are any more sightings of the drone. |
| The COO says the drone operator has not been found by police but the airport has put in additional mitigating measures to protect against drones and these measures have given him the confidence to re-start flights. | The COO says the drone operator has not been found by police but the airport has put in additional mitigating measures to protect against drones and these measures have given him the confidence to re-start flights. |
| That beautiful word “DEPARTED” is starting to appear on the deartures board at Gatwick airport again. Feeling for those who are seeing “DELAYED” and “ENQUIRE AIRLINE” for their flights. pic.twitter.com/Kk4NXrPVIe | That beautiful word “DEPARTED” is starting to appear on the deartures board at Gatwick airport again. Feeling for those who are seeing “DELAYED” and “ENQUIRE AIRLINE” for their flights. pic.twitter.com/Kk4NXrPVIe |