UPDATE: Drone Drama hits Capital

London Gatwick Airport remains closed this evening. Late yesterday evening (19th) a drone was spotted leading to a halt on all operations. No aircraft have been able to take off or land at London's second busiest airport. This has led to all inbound flights to be diverted to alternative airports. This has led to Hundreds of passengers been transported from different airports and leaving other passengers stranded abroad awaiting a flight back to the UK. As you can see below many flights were divert leaving aircraft out of position for the next flight and leaving crews out of position too. The Drama began at 21:00ish last night (19th) since then the airport has being working with the police and since late this afternoon have called in the MOD. The police had deployed several Armed Units and of course the Air units. The helicopters were tracking the drones however the Drone and its inconsiderate pilot are still at large. Late Afternoon on the 20th December the MOD deployed Military to area to help with the ongoing incident.

Since 21:00 on the 20th hundreds upon hundreds of flights have been cancelled leaving Christmas breaks and dream holidays in ruin. The Pilot of the drone has upset a lot of passengers , Families , Children. Some people will know struggle to get to destinations in time for the big day.

Photo Credit: Giulia Ballarin (EasyJet NEO relaxing on stand after a divert to Liverpool)

For the passengers who experienced diverts on inbound flights it was pot luck to where you ended up. Liverpool, Cardiff, Doncaster, London Heathrow, Glasgow , Newcastle and other airports were also used today for diverts. Even our European friends helped including AMS. Some Airports like BHX had to experience extra large traffic on top of their own. One extra A380 Emirates had to Divert to Birmingham check the photo out under the diverts list.

At this time (20th) 21:53 the incident is still ongoing and the airport remains closed and hundreds of flights have been cancelled. Hotels within 20km of LGW have been fully booked up and many passengers are sleeping in the terminal in the hope flights will restart.

Inbound and outbound Flights have been cancelled for the rest of Thursday (20th). Flights have also been cancelled for the early hours of Friday morning. Its over 24 hours and the UKs second largest Airport remains closed. The airport will not restart flights until 06:00 on the 21st and that is subject to review. We will update the divert board as and when we receive information and when we receive information regarding the Drone Incident we will update the blog.

Photo Credit: Brian Bacon ( Norwegian 787 resting at DSA after been diverted)

Below you will find a full list of Diverted flights below.

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Inbound Diversions.

Wednesday 19th December 2018

21:20 - U28346 - Hamburg - EasyJet - Divert

21:20 - U2898 - Jersey - EasyJet - Divert

21:20 - W63031 - Bucharest - Wizz Air - Divert

21:25 - U2890 - Glasgow - EasyJet - Divert

21:30 - BA2587 - Venice - British Airways - Divert

21:35 - U28268 - Copenhagen - EasyJet - Divert

21:35 - U28884 - Amsterdam - EasyJet - Divert

21:40 - BA2709 - Barcelona - British Airways - Divert

21:40 - U28070 - Venice - EasyJet - Divert

21:45 - BA2965 - Glasgow - British Airways - Divert

21:45 - PS113 - Kiev - Ukrainian Airlines - Divert

21:45 - U28438 - Basel - EasyJet - Divert

21:50 - BA2799 - Seville - British Airways - Divert

21:50 - MT1157 - Espargos - Thomas Cook - Divert

21:50 - U28200 - Milan - EasyJet - Divert

21:55 - MT803 - Enfidha - Thomas Cook - Divert

21:55 - U28088 - Athens - EasyJet - Divert

22:05 - D82911 - Copenhagen - Norwegian - Divert

22:05 - U2842 - Belfast - EasyJet - Divert

22:05 - U28485 - Geneva - EasyJet - Divert

22:10 - D82825 - Tromso - Norwegian - Divert

22:10 - U2874 - Aberdeen - EasyJet - Divert

22:10 - U28360 - Nice - EasyJet - Divert

22:10 - U28954 - Vienna - EasyJet - Divert

22:10 - U28498 - Porto - EasyJet - Divert

22:25 - U28986 - Munich - EasyJet - Divert

22:30 - U28282 - Madrid - EasyJet - Divert

22:30 - U28720 - Lisbon - EasyJet - Divert

22:35 - U28126 - Berlin - EasyJet - Divert

22:35 - U28258 - Rome - EasyJet - Divert

22:35 - U28998 - Prague - EasyJet - Divert

22:35 - D82859 - Stockholm - Norwegian - Divert

22:40 - U28338 - Toulouse - EasyJet - Divert

22:40 - U28508 - Reykjavik - EasyJet - Divert

22:50 - DI7014 - New York - Norwegian - Divert

22:50 - U28226 - Valencia - EasyJet - Divert

22:55 - U28538 - Fuerteventura - EasyJet - Divert

23:10 - U28610 - Malaga - EasyJet - Divert

23:15 - BY591 - Boa Vista - TUIfly - Divert

23:20 - U28966 - Larnaca - EasyJet - Divert

23:30 - D82833 - Trondheim - Norwegian - Divert

23:30 - U28668 - Alicante - EasyJet - Divert

23:30 - U28706 - Tenerife - EasyJet - Divert

23:35 - U28918 - Faro - EasyJet - Divert

23:40 - U28896 - Marrakesh - EasyJet - Divert

Photo Credit: AutoAvia Photographic ( 3x EasyJets sat on the apron at Cardiff after diverting)

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Inbound Diversions

Thursday 20th December 2018

01:15 - BY4357 - Fuerteventura - TUIfly - Divert

02:30 - BY4315 - Pafos - TUIfly - Divert

03:30 - DI7506 - Buenos Aires - Norwegian - Divert

04:50 - BY95 - Punta Cana - TUIfly - Divert

05:25 - VS30 - Bridgetown - Virgin Atlantic - Divert

05:30 - CX343 - Hong Kong - Cathay Pacific - Divert

06:00 - BA2154 - Bridgetown - British Airways - Divert

06:30 - BA2232 - Bermuda - British Airways - Divert

06:40 - EK11 - Dubai - Emirates - Divert

06:50 - BY49 - Cancun - TUIfly - Divert

06:50 - DI7044 - Fort Lauderdale - Wamos Air - Divert

06:55 - DI7152 - Chicago - Wamos Air - Divert

07:00 - VY8770 - Paris - Vueling - Cancelled

07:10 - DI7018 - New York - Norwegian - Divert

07:30 - BA2036 - Orlando - British Airways - Divert

07:35 - BA2256 - Antigua - British Airways - Divert

07:45 - VS28 - Orlando - Virgin Atlantic - Divert

08:10 - DI7148 - Boston - Norwegian - Divert

08:25 - BA2158 - Vieux Fort - British Airways - Divert

08:40 - BA2152 - Bridgetown - British Airways - Divert

08:45 - BA2276 - Las Vagas - British Airways - Divert

09:05 - TS122 - Toronto - Air Transat - Divert

09:05 - FR112 - Dublin - Ryanair - Divert

09:08 - WS3 - Toronto - WestJet - Divert

09:10 - VS16 - Orlando - Virgin Atlantic - Divert

09:25 - VS44 - Las Vegas - Virgin Atlantic - Divert

09:30 - GR602 - Guernsey - Aurigny - Divert

09:50 - FR2714 - Alicante - Ryanair - Divert

10:00 - DI7016 - New York - Norwegian - Divert

10:25 - DI7058 - Orlando - Norwegian - Divert

10:45 - DI7166 - Tampa - Norwegian - Divert

11:15 - GR604 - Guernsey - Aurigny - Divert

11:40 - EK15 - Dubai - Emirates - Divert

11:45 - TK1963 - Istanbul - Turkish Airlines - Divert

12:25 - DI7096 - Los Angeles - Norwegian - Divert

12:25 - QR327 - Doha - Qatar - Divert

12:35 - FR1182 - Shannon - Ryanair - Divert

13:45 - U28994 - Prague - EasyJet - Divert

14:20 - FR122 - Dublin - Ryanair - Divert

14:49 - GR604 - Southampton - Aurigny - Divert

14:50 - U28496 - Porto - EasyJet - Divert

15:40 - DI7408 - Singapore - Norwegian - Divert

15:50 - GR606 - Guernsey - Aurigny - Divert

16:10 - FR9852 - Cork - Ryanair - Divert

16:15 - SU6619 - St. Petersburg - Divert

17:20 - FR116 - Dublin - Ryanair - Divert

17:30 - BA2068 - Port Louis - British Airways - Divert

18:00 - BA2042 - Male - British Airways - Divert

18:50 - BA2068 - Brussels - British Airways - Divert

23:10 - BY163 - Langkawi - TUIfly - Divert

Photo Credit : Neil Logan (Emirates newest A380 A6-EVF lands after divert from Gatwick)

Photo Credit : Michael Bell (Thomas Cook/Condor 757-300 G-JMAA at EMA after Diverting)

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Friday the 21st ,the Airport has Reopened - The airport will be restricted to 10 Departures an hour. After 32 hours at a standstill the airport got back to dealing with Aircraft rather than Drones. The First arrival was CA423 from China. TCX4801 and IBK8927 both repositioning from other airports and arrived shortly after. The first aircraft to lift off from the Gatwick runway this morning were, IBK2963 and BA2632. The task begins to reposition all the out of place crews and aircraft. Many aircraft are still on the ground at the divert airport due to crews being out of flying hours. 3 Police forces were involved in the incident. We can confirm at this time no arrests have been made. The last sighting of the "Drone" was at 21:00ish last night. The question is being asked could this happen again. Does the Government need to extend the restricted zone around the airfield. Its currently a 1km restriction around the Airport but many people say it should be 5km.

So with nobody arrested and no drones seized. Could this happen again. Military and Police were involved and Thousands of Holiday plans are ruined. Many flights remain Cancelled.

Friday 21st December saw the return of the "Drone" late afternoon once again causing unwanted trouble. Again this closed Gatwicks runway. The last take off was 16:54 and the last landing was at 16:59. The airport had received information regarding a drone sighting in the area. This lead to flights beginning to divert in the anticipation that it could be a long suspension to operations. Below you will find a list of aircraft which diverted to alternative airports.

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Inbound Diversions.

Friday 21st December 2018

16:45 - U28682 - Lanzarote - EasyJet - Divert

16:55 - U28475 - Geneva - EasyJet - Divert

17:00 - U28054 - Montpellier - EasyJet - Divert

17:00 - U28692 - Gran Canaria - EasyJet - Divert

17:05 - U28962 - Nantes - EasyJet - Divert

17:05 - FR2714 - Alicante - Ryanair - Divert

17:30 - U28266 - Copenhagen - EasyJet - Divert

17:30 - U28356 - Nice - EasyJet - Divert

17:50 - BA2649 - Tirana - British Airways - Divert

17:50 - U28378 - Turin - EasyJet - Divert

18:00 - BA2541 - Rome - British Airways - Divert

18:00 - U28278 - Madrid - EasyJet - Divert

18:00 - U28984 - Munich - EasyJet - Divert

18:05 - U28224 - Valencia - EasyJet - Divert

18:10 - D8370 - Helsinki - Norwegian - Divert

18:20 - FR126 - Dublin - Ryanair - Divert

18:25 - EK9 - Dubai - Emirates - Divert

19:05 - FR142 - Dublin - Ryanair - Divert

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After the brief Closure Friday evening operating once again began. Its believed the police and Military used a system known as "Drone Dome". The equipment isn't the cheapest or easiest to get your hands on. Its Israeli made and costs a staggering £2.5 million a set. The system used by the British Army is a Military Grade laser range finder and radar which helped the authorities track the drone. Similar technology has been used in the controversial Syrian Civil War. Also seen on a roof top was a Military jammer used to overwhelm the drone by sending a large amount of radio waves to interfere with those waves sent from the operators control. Not the easiest thing to understand but the radio waves sent from the jammer allow the Military to take control of the unmanned aircraft and perform a "soft kill" by grounding the device.

Photo Credit : AFP/Getty Images ( Military equipment on the roof of a airport building)

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Saturday 22nd December 2018 - The local authorities made 2 arrests in connection with the Gatwick Drone incident. A couple from Crawley had been detained by police and their property was searched. Social media was filled with names of the couple and a number of photos of the pair. We will not be sharing the names or any photos of the suspects.

Sunday 23rd December 2018 - The couple from the town of Crawley just south of London Gatwick were released without charge today. The pair aged 47 and 54 returned home this morning after 36 hours in custody. Gatwick have now offered a reward for anyone that can advise the authorities of who caused the disruption to hundreds of flights. That reward is £50,000. Local police commented on the social media issue “It is important to remember that when people are arrested in an effort to make further enquiries it does not mean that they are guilty of an offence and Sussex Police would not seek to make their identity public."

The hunt for the person(s) that ruined Christmas holidays for so many continues.

To clear the back-log of passengers Norwegian have leased the Hifly A380. 9H-MIP has been leased and has flown 1 flight for Norwegian Air to help clear the stranded passengers. Its flown to New York on behalf of the Norway based carrier. The A380 features a rather special livery which I'm sure most of you Avgeeks saw at FIA18.

Photo Credit: Kian from Miles to go - Aviation Blogging (Hifly A380 on display at FIA18)

Last Updated 23/12/18 (18:10)