Members of the Simple Flying community will remember when Gatwick Airport had 1,000 flights disrupted over three days in December 2018. Now that over three years have passed since operations were impacted at the United Kingdom's second-busiest airport, we thought we'd take a look at the outcomes.
A series of closures
At approximately 21:00 on Wednesday, December 20th, 2018, there were reports of a pair of drones flying over London Gatwick's airfield. As a result, officials took the decision to close the airfield from 21:03 that night until 03:01 the next morning. However, just 44 minutes later, the runway was closed again amid reports of additional drone sightings.
"Gatwick Airport’s runway remains closed and all flights are currently suspended following reports of drones flying over Gatwick’s airfield last night and this morning. There is significant disruption at Gatwick today and we are prioritising the welfare of those at the airport by deploying staff into our terminals to look after people as best we can.” - Gatwick Airport, December 20th, 2018.
Mayhem ensues
Chaos erupted at the airport, causing a nationwide and global media circus. Around 140,000 passengers had their flights affected, and approximately 1,000 flights were diverted or canceled due to the closures, which lasted until 06:00 on December 21st.
That same day, two people hailing from Crawley, a nearby town, were arrested in relation to the drone activity. However, they were released without charge on December 23rd and were ruled out of the investigation. The police then hinted that there may not have even been a drone at all. In fact, the police received no footage of the drones during the period of disruption.
There have been several theories as to what actually was seen, including the possibility of bird sightings. Authorities also expressed that the incident was likely caused by someone with inside knowledge. Nonetheless, as of December 2020, Sussex Police and Gatwick have maintained that the disruption "was a malicious attack.”
Stay informed: Sign up for our daily and weekly aviation news digests.
A costly experience
Altogether, the December 2018 incident caused significant operational and financial disruption. easyJet, which has a base at Gatwick, shared that the events had cost it £15 million. In practice, the carrier canceled over 400 flights, impacting 82,000 passengers.
Along with potential causes for accidents, there are additional security risks when it comes to drone activity at airports. For instance, some feared that the drones were being operated by terrorists. Therefore, it’s not a surprise that Gatwick reacted swiftly. However, the airport would have undoubtedly hoped for a clearer outcome to the investigation, which was closed in September 2019 due to a lack of information.
What are your thoughts about the December 2018 Gatwick drone incident? Were you or anyone you know affected by the events? Let us know what you think of the situation and its outcomes in the comment section.