UPDATED: Flights delayed as drones cause Gatwick chaos

Thursday 20 December 2018

Aurigny flights to and from Gatwick will be affected into Friday, after two drones were spotted flying in the London airport's airspace.

Thousands of passengers have already been facing disruption since yesterday evening when the two drones were first seen over the airfield, which triggered a major security alert.

With the disruption continuing today, Aurigny made arrangements for all Gatwick services to be re-routed through Southampton until further notice.

Some flights have already departed to and from Southampton in lieu of Gatwick and any passengers booked to fly later today or tomorrow (Friday) are asked to look out for text messages from the airline, or monitor the Aurigny Facebook page, for updates.

The airline said:

"We will continue to monitor the situation and anticipate further rotations to Southampton later today if Gatwick remains closed."

In a further statement, Aurigny has now said its first three Gatwick rotations on Friday will also be re-routed through Southampton. 

The airline said:

"We are issuing customers returning to the island with new flight details and would advise people to check-in online to avoid delays in Southampton as resources are tight at the airport. 

"Our focus on Southampton is to try to ensure that as much as possible our customers get to their required destination and we can at least keep people moving."

Anyone booked to fly to or from Gatwick with Aurigny needs to continue monitoring the airline's website and social media channels for the latest information. 

Pictured: Gatwick Airport has been posting updates online.

Earlier today, the redeye Aurigny flight to Gatwick expected to land at 07:55 was cancelled, as was the flight supposed to land in Guernsey at 09:40.  The flight going out of Guernsey to Gatwick with an expected 08:25 departure was delayed until 12:35 (as of 08:30 this morning), and the flight expected into Guernsey at 11:15 was pushed back until 14:45. Those services are now understood to be among those re-routed through Southampton. 

Pictured: Guernsey Airport's arrivals information this morning (at 08:30), showed the disruption with Gatwick flights. 

When the security alert was issued, the runway in Gatwick was immediately closed. It briefly reopened early this morning, but when drones were once again seen over the airfield, travel was stopped. Aircraft were left loaded on the runway waiting for an opportunity to offload passengers or take off, and so many flights were initially diverted to Stansted that it is no longer an option.

Delays at Gatwick today due to drones in vicinity of that airport. Please be aware first flights have just been cancelled due to slot delays. https://t.co/WFWluMPC2w

— Guernsey Airport ✈ (@GuernseyAirport) 20 December 2018

Gatwick's Chief Operating Officer, Chris Woodroofe, spoke to the BBC about the situation. He said whoever was flying these drones "over the perimeter fence and into where the runway operates from", was "irresponsible".

"They disappeared and reappeared over the night period from 21:00 until 03:00, at which point we reopened the runway," he said. "That lasted 45 minutes before the drones reappeared again and we are currently closed and it is our intention to review the situation when we have daylight at 08:00.

"Last night there were 10,000 people disrupted. There were 6,000 people flying in from around the world to Gatwick who were diverted to alternative airports as we closed, there were 2,000 people who didn't take off from their origin airport and there are a further 2,000 people here who couldn't fly to their destination because the airport closed."

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 LGW (@Gatwick_Airport) 20 December 2018

Pictured: It looked like chaos on the Gatwick Airport arrivals board this morning. 

As of 08:00 this morning, police around Gatwick had 20 units from two different forces hunting the pilot, but they said it would be too dangerous to shoot down the drones because of what may happen to "stray bullets".

Gatwick itself has apologised for the disruption, and staff are continuing to try and ensure the flight schedule returns to normal. 

Pictured: Gatwick's disruption is affecting Aurigny flights to and from Guernsey.