London’s Gatwick airport shut down operations on Wednesday night after reports of two drones flying over the airfield, a modern-day menace the aviation industry is struggling to manage. Police are investigating the incident, Gatwick said in a Twitter statement. Flights were suspended for six hours from about 9pm on Wednesday. After reopening for about 45 minutes, the airport halted services again at 3.45am local time on Thursday. “We will update when we have suitable reassurance that it is appropriate to reopen the runway,” Gatwick said.
More than two dozen incoming flights were diverted, according to Flightradar24. Unmanned aerial vehicles and laser pointers are increasingly becoming a safety threat for aircraft, prompting regulators to come up with new rules against operating the devices near airfields. Earlier this year, airspace around Wellington, New Zealand, was closed for 30 minutes after a drone was spotted flying close to the runway. In 2016, Dubai International Airpo...
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