Gatwick Airport has now reopened
A man and a woman have been arrested after drones caused three days of disruption at Gatwick Airport.
Police said the arrests were made just after 10pm last night, following flights being grounded after drones were sighted in the airspace of the UK’s second biggest airport.
The first drone was spotted on Wednesday night, leading to journeys in and out of the airport being cancelled for a total of around 36 hours, before Gatwick was finally reopened on Friday morning.
Another “suspected drone sighting” then led to flights being suspended again for over an hour at around 5pm on Friday night.
The disruption has seen 1,000 flights cancelled or diverted and at least 140,000 passengers have been affected.
#GatwickDrones | Around 10pm today we made 2 arrests in connection with criminal drone activity at Gatwick Airport. Proactive investigations are still on-going: we urge the public to contact us if they believe they have information that can aid us further. https://t.co/dOmKw4GnfO
— Sussex Police (@sussex_police) December 22, 2018
Superintendent James Collis said: “As part of our ongoing investigations into the criminal use of drones which has severely disrupted flights in and out of Gatwick Airport, Sussex Police made two arrests just after 10pm on 21 December.
“Our investigations are still on-going, and our activities at the airport continue to build resilience to detect and mitigate further incursions from drones, by deploying a range of tactics.
“We continue to urge the public, passengers and the wider community around Gatwick to be vigilant and support us by contacting us immediately if they believe they have any information that can help us in bringing those responsible to justice.
“The arrests we have made this evening are a result of our determination to keep the public safe from harm, every line of enquiry will remain open to us until we are confident that we have mitigated further threats to the safety of passengers.
“Anyone with information about the incident or who may have suspicions about the drone operators is asked to report online or call 101 quoting Operation Trebor. If you see anyone acting suspiciously in the area of the airport, please dial 999 immediately.”
The airport has been reopened again today, however, according to the airport’s website, a number of handful of flights that are due to arrive at Gatwick today have been cancelled.
A Gatwick Airport spokesman said: “Our runway is open and we aim to run a full schedule on Saturday December 22 – 757 flights scheduled today, carrying 124,484 passengers.
“Passengers should expect some delays and cancellations as we continue to recover our operations following three days of disruption and are advised to check with their airline before travelling to the airport.
“Safety is Gatwick’s top priority and we are grateful for passengers’ continued patience as we work to get them to their final destination in time for Christmas.”
