Flights resume at Heathrow following earlier drone sighting

Departures have resumed at Heathrow Airport in the UK after an earlier drone sighting grounded some flights. Photo / Getty

Drone sightings brought chaos for thousands of passengers at Heathrow airport with flights grounded for an hour as police investigated.

Travellers were left waiting on the runway unable to take off from the airport, which is the UK's largest, serving more than 200,000 people every day.

Flights have started to take off again just after 6pm, but it is unclear how many flights will be delayed in the coming hours after flights were halted just after 5pm UK time.

We are responding to a drone sighting at Heathrow and are working closely with the Met Police to prevent any threat to operational safety. As a precautionary measure, we have stopped departures while we investigate. We apologise to passengers for any inconvenience this may cause.

— Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) January 8, 2019

Some passengers stuck inside planes described vehicles out on the runway searching for the drone, while others were told they can ask to disembark.

The Metropolitan police confirmed that they were investigating reports of a drone sighting over the runway this evening, at the airport's busiest time of day.

It comes just weeks after Gatwick Airport descended into chaos amid several reported drone sightings before Christmas.

Police helicopter over #heathrow after a drone sighting - National Police Air Service EC145 G-MPSC pic.twitter.com/tUod9iuokL

— Aircraft Tracking (@Trexcent) January 8, 2019

The Gatwick closure led to more than 100,000 people being stranded or delayed, the worst ever drone-related disruption at an international airport.

It prompted Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, to seek a change to the law to thwart such attacks, giving police and airports new powers to shoot down, catch and jam drones.

The latest development at Heathrow came shortly after 5.30pm on Tuesday evening. Many passengers took to Twitter to express disbelief that a drone sighting was once again leaving them stranded, many stuck on the runway.

• All flights are suspended from using London #Heathrow’s Northern Runway 09L/27R (due to suspected ‘low flying drone’) which has been the allocated departures runway since earlier this afternoon

• Arrivals are continuing on the Southern Runway #drone pic.twitter.com/1544dLCHry

— Alex Macheras (@AlexInAir) January 8, 2019

A Heathrow spokesman said on Tuesday evening: "We are currently responding to a drone sighting at Heathrow and are working closely with the Met Police to prevent any threat to operational safety.

"As a precautionary measure, we have stopped departures while we investigate. We apologies to passengers for any inconvenience this may cause."

- with Daily Mail