TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Gatwick open with mammoth backlog as drones disappear
Change Size
London’s Gatwick airport reopened for flights Friday while cautioning that it’s still on the hunt for illegal drones that buzzed the hub for almost 24 hours, disrupting travel for 120,000 people. (Bloomberg/File)
L
ondon’s Gatwick airport reopened for flights Friday while cautioning that it’s still on the hunt for illegal drones that buzzed the hub for almost 24 hours, disrupting travel for more than 120,000 people.
With many planes out of position, Gatwick is operating a reduced timetable, with about 45 percent of 340 scheduled arrivals and departures canceled through 1 p.m. It says there’s no guarantee that the mystery devices are gone, though a variety of steps have been taken to make the airport safe.
“Obviously there is a possibility that the drones could return,” a Gatwick spokeswoman said by phone while adding that management are “suitably content in working with the police and other experts to reopen.” People should check with their airline before traveling to the terminal, the airport advised.
Sussex police, who have been dealing with the incident along with specialists from Britain’s armed forces, said there were almost 50 drone sightings at the airport between 9:07 p.m. Wednesday and 4:25 p.m. on Thursday, though some may have been duplicates. A statement on the force’s website said that “as yet, the drone has not been identified.”
The British Airline Pilots’ Association said it’s “extremely concerned” at the continuing risk of a drone collision and that craft could go unseen around Gatwick’s perimeter or obstruct flight paths outside the detection zone.
Gatwick reopened at 6 a.m. and about two hours later online information boards showed that just three flights had landed, two from Dublin and one from Bordeaux, while 25 had departed, all of them short-haul services.
The airport is Britain’s second busiest and the biggest hub for EasyJet, as well as being a focus for long-haul leisure flights a British Airways. It also counts Virgin Atlantic Airways, Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, Thomas Cook and TUI AG as major operators. Ryanair, which has a limited presence at Gatwick, switched Friday flights to its main Stansted base.
It’s not clear how long it will take to restore order at Gatwick after the worst disruption at a London airport since blizzards closed Heathrow in 2013. The hub has only one runway, which is already the world’s busiest, offering little scope to cram in more flights even if the drones stay away.
UK authorities portrayed the intrusion as deliberate, with Gatwick Chief Executive Officer Stewart Wingate saying it had been “highly targeted” and designed to deliver maximum disruption in the days before Christmas. Police said the actions were clearly intentional, though most likely not terror related.
The pair of drones got the better of a multi-fronted operation for the best part of two days. A daylight search backed by helicopters failed to locate the devices or their operator, prompting the Ministry of Defense to send in army personnel equipped with specialist gear as night fell Thursday.
In a bid to ease the backlog of flights, the Department for Transport temporarily lifted a ban on night operations at other UK airports.
Unmanned aerial vehicles and laser pointers are becoming an increasing threat for aircraft, prompting regulators to come up with new rules against operating the devices near airfields.
