Departures resume at Heathrow Airport after drone report
Posted January 8, 2019 12:59 pm.
Last Updated January 8, 2019 1:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Officials at London’s Heathrow Airport say flights are being allowed to take off again after departures were suspended due to a reported drone sighting.
The announcement came roughly 90 minutes after London’s Metropolitan Police received a report about a drone sighting in the vicinity of Heathrow Airport on Tuesday.
Officials did not provide details about the suspension but said more information should be forthcoming.
Heathrow said in a statement: “Based on standard operating procedures, working with Air Traffic Control and the Met Police, we have resumed departures out of Heathrow following a short suspension.”
Police have not said whether the investigation confirmed a drone a drone actually flew near the airport.
This latest drone report follows the pre-Christmas shutdown of London’s Gatwick Airport for parts of three consecutive days due to reported drone sightings. The Gatwick closure led to more than 100,000 people being stranded or delayed, the worst-ever drone-related disruption at an international airport.
The person or persons responsible for the drones that shut down Gatwick have not been located and no group has claimed responsibility.
British officials used sophisticated military gear to get Gatwick back in operation, and aviation authorities said that equipment could be deployed at other British airports to deter drone intrusions. It was not clear if it had been put in place yet at Heathrow.
Heathrow served 78 million passengers in 2017, with 81 airlines flying to 204 destinations in 85 countries around the world. Its most popular destination is New York.
