REUTERS/Peter Nicholls Passengers wait in Gatwick's South Terminal on Thursday.
- A drone sighting at London Gatwick Airport closed the airport's runway again on Friday, LBC first reported.
- A Gatwick Airport representative confirmed the closure to Business Insider and said the sighting occurred around 5:10 pm London time. The airport was reopened about an hour later around 6:30 pm London time (1:30 pm ET).
- The representative said the airport was not able to offer additional information about the drone sighting, as of Friday afternoon.
A drone sighting at London Gatwick Airport closed the airport's runway again on Friday, LBC first reported.
A Gatwick Airport representative confirmed the closure to Business Insider and said the sighting occurred around 5:10 PM London time. The representative said the airport was not able to offer additional information about the drone sighting, as of Friday afternoon.
The airport reopened about an hour later around 6:30 pm London Time (1:30 pm ET).
"Flights have now resumed. Airfield movements were suspended while we investigated this as safety remains our main priority. The military measures we have in place at the airport have provided us with reassurance necessary to re-open our airfield," the airport said in a statement via Twitter.
The airport closed for more than 32 hours beginning Wednesday evening after drones flew over the runway. More than 120,000 people's flights were affected by the closure.
The airport re-opened on Friday morning, but Gatwick chief operating officer Chris Woodroofe said on Friday before the most recent drone sighting that the drone would force the runway to close if it returned, The Guardian reported.
Woodroofe told the BBC on Friday that the airport had taken measures designed to protect it from the drone but did not specify what those measures were. As of Friday afternoon, the drone operator had not been identified.
Using a drone to interfere with airport operations is a crime in the UK and can result in five-year prison sentence.
Gatwick is the second-busiest airport in the UK, handling over 45 million passengers each year.
- Read more about the London Gatwick Airport closure:
- The second busiest airport in the UK was shut down due to drones flying over the runway and stranded passengers probably won't get any compensation
- Major British airport forced to shut down for at more than 24 hours by someone flying drones over the runway
- Video shows the damage a drone can do to a plane, as British airport shut down for more than 32 hours over rogue drones on the runway
Flights have now resumed. Airfield movements were suspended while we investigated this as safety remains our main priority. The military measures we have in place at the airport have provided us with reassurance necessary to re-open our airfield.
- Gatwick Airport LGW (@Gatwick_Airport) December 21, 2018