More than 140,000 passengers were affected just before Christmas as 1,000 flights to and from London's Gatwick Airport were cancelled or delayed.
On Thursday, January 3, the Ministry of Defence confirmed military personnel had been withdrawn from Gatwick.
“The military capability has now been withdrawn from Gatwick. The armed forces stand ever-ready to assist should a request for support be received,” said the Ministry of Defence.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled from December 20 following repeated drone sightings near the airport's single runway.
The chaos lasted for 36 hours and led to the Army being called in. Their operation remains top secret but it is thought they may have deployed the Israeli-made Drone Dome system, which blocks communications between drone and operator.
Gatwick said it had spent £5m to prevent future attacks, without going into details.
‘Drone Couple' Cleared
A couple — Paul Gait and Elaine Kirk — who were arrested in nearby Crawley on December 23 were later released without charge by Sussex Police, who were forced to make a grovelling apology after it became clear they were entirely innocent.
As of Thursday, January 3, nobody has been charged with operating drones near Gatwick and the authorities appear to have no idea who was responsible, despite a £50,000 reward being offered for information leading to conviction.
The confusion even caused some to speculate that UFOs had been…
