Thousands Of Passengers Stranded, Officials Say It Could Take 'Days' To Recover

The runway at London's Gatwick airport was closed late Wednesday night local time, and remained closed much of the day Thursday, due to reports of what is being called a deliberate disruption of air travel using drones.

The U.K. newspaper The Telegraph reports that flights at Gatwick, London's second-largest airport, were suspended about 9:00 p.m. local time Wednesday, and the airport was not expected to reopen until mid afternoon Thursday at the earliest. Airport COO Chris Woodroofe said it could take days for the airport to return to normal operations.

In a Tweet, airport administrators said they advised anyone flying from Gatwick or picking someone up at the airport Thursday should check the status of their flight. "We apologize to any affected passengers for this inconvenience but the safety of our passengers and all staff is our foremost priority," the Tweet reads.

Sussex police said that the incident is a "deliberate act to disrupt the airport," but added that "there are absolutely no  indications to suggest this is terror related."

An airport staff member said that the drones had been seen flying "over the perimeter fence" near the main runway. Woodroofe said that the drones disappeared from about 9:00 p.m. util about 3:00 a.m., at which point the runway was reopened.

But about 45 minutes later, the drones were back. Woodroofe said the situation would be reviewed during the daylight hours.

About 20 police units were reportedly looking for the person or people operating the drone or drones. Authorities said that the risk of a stray bullet made shooting down the aircraft too dangerous, but they were looking for other ways to disable the aircraft.

The U.K. newspaper The Mirror reports that Eurocontrol plans to keep the runway closed until at least 4:00 p.m. local time. More than 120,000 passengers travel plans have been disrupted by the incident.

(Image from file)

FMI: Source report, Source report