Flights diverted after Gatwick Airport 'drone sighting'

Image source, Reuters

Image caption, Three flights were diverted to Stansted

Three flights have been diverted after a possible drone sighting at Gatwick Airport.

EasyJet flights from Barcelona and Amsterdam were diverted to Stansted, as was a British Airways flight from Heraklion, Greece.

All three later landed at Gatwick more than 90 minutes after their scheduled arrival time.

Gatwick said it had investigated an "unconfirmed sighting of an object" outside its exclusion zone.

A spokeswoman confirmed an Aer Lingus pilot made the initial report.

The airport added: "Following a full assessment, the airport has remained fully operational throughout."

How can a drone cause so much chaos?

Stansted Airport said it did not anticipate any further diversions.

A suspected drone closed the airport for 33 hours in December, disrupting the journeys of about 140,000 passengers. A huge police operation and the Army eventually brought the incident under control.

Military anti-drone equipment, which can detect the flying machines and disable them by jamming radio signals, remained at the airport until March.

Both Gatwick and Heathrow are investing millions of pounds into their systems to prevent future flight disruption.