Major British airport forced to shut down for more than 12 hours by someone flying drones over the runway

YouTube/Business Insider

A still from a video that showed the disruption when a drone was spotted near the runway at Gatwick Airport in 2017. The red lines represent flights that were unable to land at the airport.

• Gatwick Airport, the second-biggest airport in the UK, has been closed for more than 12 hours as someone has been flying drones over the runway.
• More than 10,000 people were affected by the disruption on Wednesday night, and cancellations continue to rack up.
• People were put up in hotels overnight while some travelers reported being sleeping on grounded planes.
• Police are hunting for the operator, who they say is doing this deliberately.
• Disrupting an airport with a drone is a crime which carries a five-year prison sentence.

A major British airport has been forced to close for more than 12 hours - disrupting the journeys of more than 10,000 people - because someone is flying drones over the runway.

Staff at Gatwick Airport, near London, spotted two drones over the runway at 9 p.m. on Wednesday night, and closed it.

The closure prompted a massive police response, with at least 20 separate units dispatched to scour the land around Gatwick's airfield and find the drone operator. So far they have been unsuccessful.

Chris Woodroffe, the airport's chief operating officer, told Sky News at 8.45 a.m. on Thursday that his staff could still see drones over the runway. While it is closed no planes can take off or land.

2,000 people were unable to take off from Gatwick on Wednesday night, he said, while 2,000 people were on flights in other airports bound for Gatwick that did not take off.

An additional 6,000 people were on flights that had to divert to other airports, he said.

REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

A passenger waits in Gatwick Airport on Thursday morning.

Woodroffe did not give a figure for how many people will be disrupted on Thursday and said that he could not give a time for when the runway might reopen.

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Gatwick is the UK's second-largest airport, with 56 airlines operating regularly and an estimated 45 million passengers a year. The airport said that it is expecting 2.9 million passengers to travel through the airport over the festive period.

This video visualisation shows the disruption caused to flights when a drone was spotted near Gatwick's runway in 2017, forcing a similar closure:

People slept in the airport terminal and reported being stuck on aircraft on Twitter. Travelers told UK newspaper the Daily Mail that they had been sleeping on planes.

Woodroffe apologized to passengers on "Today," and condemned the "irresponsible" act. Police told Sky News that they are sure it is a "deliberate act" to disrupt the airfield.

Flying a drone less than one kilometer (0.6 miles) from the protected space around an airport is illegal in the UK and can result in a five-year prison sentence.

REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

Passengers wait in Gatwick Airport's south terminal on Thursday morning.

Woodroffe said that 20 police units were searching the area around the airport to find the drone operator. He said that the police did not want to shoot them down because of "what might happen with stray bullets."

Gatwick Airport is warning passengers not to travel to the airport before checking the status of their flight with their airline. Woodroffe said that the airport was working with airlines to build a schedule for redirected flights and to inform passengers.