Arrests over Gatwick drones disruption

A man and a woman have been arrested in connection with a string of drone sightings which brought Gatwick Airport to a standstill.

Sussex Police said the pair were arrested in the area at about 22:00 GMT on Friday.

Flights were grounded for more than a day after drones were seen near the runway, BBC reports. 

Investigations into "criminal use of drones" continued, police said, as they appealed to the public for information.

The airport said its runway would be open on Saturday, but urged passengers to check the status of their flight before travelling to the airport.

Supt James Collis said officers remained at Gatwick, ready to "detect and mitigate" further drone flights by deploying a range of tactics.

He asked passengers and people living nearby to remain vigilant and report any suspicions.

"Every line of inquiry will remain open to us until we are confident that we have mitigated further threats to the safety of passengers," he added.

Gatwick reopened on Friday morning after dozens of flights were disrupted, affecting more than 100,000 travellers.

The runway was closed again for a short time after a further confirmed sighting at 17:10.

A spokeswoman for the airport said military measures put in place at the airfield made it safe to reopen.

Eleven inbound flights were diverted to other airports during the latest suspension and, while outbound flights would experience a "knock-on delay", none had been cancelled, she said.

However, the BBC has been contacted by people claiming their flights were cancelled.