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6 - Jul - 2017

Flights Diverted as Drone Incident Causes Gatwick to Close

Five flights had to be diverted following the closure of a runway at Gatwick Airport, after a drone was sighted flying too close to the airport.

According to an airport spokesman, the airport had been closed for twice on Sunday, for nine and five minutes, which affected several flights.

 British Airways said one of its aircrafts was diverted to Bournemouth, while EasyJet said four of its flights were diverted. Sussex Police is investigating the incident which saw other flights put into holding patterns as a precaution.

The airport said: "Runway operations at Gatwick were suspended between 18:10 BST and 18:19, and again from 18:36 to 18:41, resulting in a small number of go-arounds and diverts."

One passenger Craig Jenkins, who was flying with EasyJet form Naples, Italy, said: "We were crossing over the Channel and it [the plane] started circling.

"It did four or five circles... before the captain said we were landing at Stansted.

"First, they said Gatwick was closed because of an incident. Shortly after, they said it was a drone."

He added that passengers were given the option of disembarking at Stansted or waiting an hour to fly back to Gatwick.

Another passenger, Niamh Slatter, who was flying from Valencia, Spain, had her flight diverted to Bournemouth. She said: "We were due to land 15 minutes early, but ended up circling over the south coast," she said.

"Our attempted landing at Gatwick was aborted quite late as the drone had been spotted again, so we were told that the flight was being diverted to Bournemouth."

EasyJet has since apologised for the inconvenience, saying the matter was out of its control.

Steve Landells, the British Airline Pilots’ Association’s safety specialist warned that the threat of drones must be addressed, as a collision could be disastrous.

"We believe a collision, particularly with a helicopter, has the potential to be catastrophic," he said.

The union recommended compulsory registration of drone users and the use of new technology which will see a drone transmit enough data for the police to tack down the operator.

By Airport Pickups London