Between 19 and 21 December 2018, hundreds of flights were cancelled at Gatwick Airport near London, England, following reports of drone sightings close to the runway The reports caused major disruption, affecting approximately 140,000 passengers and 1,000 flights It was the biggest disruption since ash from an Icelandic volcano shut the airport in 2010 On 21 December, Sussex Police arrested a drone enthusiast and his partner who lived near the airport, but they were released without charge on 23 December, having been cleared of any involvement In April 2019, Sussex Police said the disruption could have been an inside job After reported sightings of drones near Gatwick Airport, thousands of passengers were left stranded owing to flight cancellations; a number of flights diverted to other airports Police believed a drone operator had intentionally disrupted flights, as whenever the runway was about to re-open, drone sightings were reported again No act of terrorism was suspected Police suspected that any drone would have been of an "industrial" class The military were deployed on 20 December following a request from Sussex Police for help to end the unprecedented situation Authorities later stated that the suspected drone operator was within a 5-mile (8 km) radius of the airport At 23:30 on 20 December, the airport confirmed the runway would remain closed and all flights were cancelled for the rest of the evening because of continued reported sightings[better source needed] It reopened with limited capacity at around 06:00 on 21 December At 09:30 on 21 December, Gatwick Airport chief operating officer Chris Woodroofe described the airport as operating at "almost normal runway conditions", and said it would be "back to normal" by the end of the day At 17:30, the runway was closed again due to a suspected drone sighting, before being reopened at 18:23 There were delays to some scheduled flights on 22 December, resulting from the displacement of crews and aircraft The RAF withdrew on 3 January 2019 after Gatwick spent £5 million on a system to prevent attacks During the crisis, it had been reported that the Army had been deployed and would be using the Drone Dome – an Israeli-developed counter UAS system – at Gatwick The Ministry of Defence later confirmed that the RAF Regiment had been deployed and were using an alternative system as the Israeli one had not yet been delivered In total, the incident caused approximately 1,000 flights to be diverted or cancelled entirely, affecting the travel of around 140,000 passengers The police received 92 sightings of a drone from "credible people" No videos or photographs of the drone were handed to the police The lead investigator from Sussex Police questioned whether there had been a drone at all Giles York, Chief Constable, later said police thought that original sightings were of an unauthorised drone, but it was possible that later sightings may have been of a drone used by Sussex Police Gatwick Airport offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators, and the police recovered a damaged drone on the airport's boundary[not in citation given] A drone enthusiast and his partner from Crawley, less than two miles from Gatwick Airport, were arrested on 21 December by Sussex Police on suspicion of disrupting civil aviation "to endanger or likely to endanger safety of operations or persons", a criminal offence with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment under the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990 On 23 December, the couple were ruled out of the investigation and released without charge, having been questioned for almost 36 hours Their names and photographs were published by some news outlets, and they were named by the local Member of Parliament, Henry Smith, but not by the police Sussex Police have been criticised for their handling of the investigation An employer of one of the suspects said he was at work when the incidents took place and accused the force of ignoring his attempts to contact them regarding the alibi He told a newspaper that "Although there was a complete lack of evidence, the police ripped his house apart I know this will mentally destroy him Sussex Police have really dropped the ball on this" The police had arrested the couple after learning they were drone enthusiasts who lived close to the airport In a statement, the couple said they felt "completely violated" by the police and media intrusion into their lives Speaking to the BBC on 29 December 2018, Giles York, the Chief Constable of Sussex Police, said he felt sorry for the couple, but thought their arrest was justified No further arrests were made Stewart Wingate, Chief Executive of Gatwick Airport, issued a statement and apology Chief Operating Officer Chris Woodroofe added:”I think what's clear from the last 24 hours is that drones are a UK aviation issue, or even an international aviation issue We have had the police, we have had the military seeking to bring this drone down for the last 24 hours and to date that has not been successful” The Civil Aviation Authority announced it considered the event to be an "extraordinary circumstance", and therefore airlines were not obliged to pay any financial compensation to passengers The British Airline Pilots' Association said: “We understand that detection and tracking equipment has now been installed around the perimeter of Gatwick and the expectation is that if and when the drones reappear, they will be detected and the airport will close again It is possible that the rogue drones may go undetected around the perimeter or could obstruct the flight paths outside the immediate detection zone” Consumer Alex Neill, managing director for home products and services, said: “This situation will understandably be frustrating for both the airlines and the tens of thousands of passengers travelling to and from Gatwick ahead of Christmas Whilst these extraordinary circumstances unfortunately mean you are not entitled to compensation, you may still be entitled to meals, refreshments, hotel accommodation or transfers You don't have to cancel your tickets though, as depending on the length of the delay, your airline should be providing you with alternative travel options or accommodation” Political Prime Minister Theresa May said in a statement: “I feel for all those passengers whose travel plans have been disrupted by this drone activity and the action that has had to be taken in response to it At this particular time of year this is particularly difficult for people We have already passed legislation in relation to the use of drones As it has been made clear, the activity we have seen is illegal and those who are caught endangering aircraft can face up to five years in prison And we're consulting on further aspects of this including further police powers We will continue to work with the Gatwick authorities in order to bring this to a close such that people will be able to get on to the travel that they were expecting over the Christmas” In a tweet, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson had confirmed the military deployment and said: "The armed forces have a range of unique capabilities and this isn't something we would usually deploy but we are there to assist and do everything we can so that they are in a position to open the airport at the earliest opportunity" Transport Secretary Chris Grayling told Sky News: "One of the things we're going to be doing is temporarily lifting the night-flight restrictions at other airports so more planes can get into and out of the country" Shadow Secretary of State for Transport Andy McDonald said:”Events at Gatwick Airport highlight the urgent need for clear rules on the use of drones near airports There has been growing concern over the increasing number of near misses between drones and manned aircraft and the Government has been too slow to act The Government should fast-track the introduction of a regulatory framework to protect against the misuse of drones and ensure the safety of UK airspace This should include a drone exclusion zone around airports” Karl Turner, the former Labour Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales, said on BBC Newsnight:”There should be wider exclusion zones around airports I think the law says one kilometre at the moment, it should probably be five kilometres according to the experts The government should have brought this legislation forward, it's been an abject failure and I blame Chris Grayling He should have been in the House of Commons today making a statement and explaining to MPs why the Government has failed to bring this legislation forward” On 24 December, security minister Ben Wallace announced that "The huge proliferation of such devices, coupled with the challenges of deploying military counter measures into a civilian environment, means there are no easy solutions However, I can say that we are able to now deploy detection systems throughout the UK to combat this threat" Terrorism The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant launched a new propaganda campaign against the West, posting a new poster online threatening cities with drones, prompted by the events at Gatwick Airport Earlier drone incidents There were previous drone incidents at Gatwick Airport on 3 July 2017 and 9 July 2017 The latter was not made public until 15 October 2017