Flights at London's Gatwick Airport resume after temporary shutdown over drone
London -- In a new nightmare for holiday travel, flights were suspended again at London's Gatwick Airport Friday after reports that another drone had been spotted over the airport, the airport and British police said. But they soon resumed after the temporary shutdown.
The airport said in a statement Friday evening that "military measures" in place at Britain's second-busiest airport made it safe to resume flight operations. It said takeoffs and landings had been suspended earlier Friday -- for roughly 80 minutes -- as a precautionary measure while an investigation was underway.
An airport spokeswoman said there had been "a confirmed sighting of a drone."
Drone sightings had also shut down the airport on Wednesday night and all day Thursday. The motive for the drone use wasn't clear. Police said there was no indication it was "terror related."
The British military has been aiding police and aviation authorities in the search for the culprit or culprits behind the drone intrusion, which police said was designed to cause maximum disruption over the holiday period.
The runway closure has had a spillover impact on the international air travel system, with thousands of passengers remaining short of their destinations.
Flying a drone within around three-fifths of a mile of an airport in the U.K. is illegal and punishable by up to five years in prison. It is something aviation and security officials have long feared happening at airports around the world.
