People affected by the issues at Gatwick have been speaking to the BBC about what these disruptions mean to them.

Tanya Joynes, her husband and their eight-year-old son Daniel were on their way to Lapland for a "winter wonderland" visit to meet Father Christmas - but that was cancelled after delays to their flight.

“It’s a trip we have planned, saved and looked forward to since this time last year. We are all heartbroken,” Ms Joynes told the BBC.

Image source, PA

People are being advised not to travel to Gatwick if their flight is cancelled.

A spokesman for the airport said 110,000 passengers were due to either take off or land at the airport on 760 flights on Thursday.

Martin Lanni is CEO of Quantum Aviation Ltd, a specialist airspace security company.

"The ripple of this disruption goes far beyond Gatwick - it's all the departure airports across the world, airports that flights have been diverted to and so on.

"They're doing absolutely the right thing to have suspended operations, obviously safety is paramount, but prevention is better than cure, I'm sure anyone sitting on a plane now would agree.

"What can you do in future to prevent this from happening? To be honest it requires some money being spent on a technical solution, which might include a level of radar, camera detection, radio frequency detection and jamming. There are plans to introduce registration for drone purchases in future but that is the future and obviously won't help today."

Aviation Minister Baroness Sugg said: "These drones have been flown illegally and the operators, who have acted incredibly irresponsibly, could face up to five years in jail.

"We are in close contact with Gatwick Airport as they work with police to safely resolve the situation as quickly as possible."

In May, the government amended the Air Navigation Order 2016 to make it illegal to fly drones above 400 feet and within 1km of an airport boundary.

This came into effect in July.

Thousands of passengers at one of the UK's busiest airports are experiencing flight disruption after drones were seen over the airfield.

Dr Rob Hunter, head of flight safety at the British Airline Pilots' Association, said: "The public needs to understand that drones are not just toys and could have catastrophic consequences if they collide with an aircraft.

"We know a lot of drones will be under people's Christmas trees and we implore them to ensure they're aware of the rules and fly their drones in a safe and sensible manner."

Image source, Aaron Truss

Passengers at Gatwick Airport have been warned to expect further flight disruption after drones were seen over the airfield.

• Gatwick's runway remains closed after two of the devices were seen nearby, sparking a string of delays and diversions on Wednesday evening.
• Outbound flights were grounded and incoming planes redirected - with some landing in Paris and Amsterdam.
• Passengers due to travel have been told to check the status of their flight, external.
• It is illegal to fly a drone within 1km of an airport or airfield boundary.

Gatwick's chief operating officer Chris Woodroofe says he does not want to speculate about the drone operator's motive.

EasyJet passengers are being advised not to travel to Gatwick airport if their flight has been cancelled.

A spokeswoman for the airline said: "Like other airlines, easyJet diverted a number of flights due to land at London Gatwick to other airports across the UK.

"As a result of this, aircraft and crew remain out of position at airports away from London Gatwick, which has resulted in a number of cancellations this morning.

"We advise all customers flying to and from London Gatwick today to not travel to the airport if they are on flights which have been cancelled."

Gatwick Airport is expecting to welcome a "record-breaking" number of passengers, external over this year's Christmas period.

It predicts 2.9m people will pass through its gates during the festive getaway, with 73,000 of those due to depart this Sunday.

Up to 20 police units, a helicopter, dog units and armed response are searching for the drone which has caused disruption at Gatwick.

Thousands of passengers have been affected and it will remain closed until 11:00 GMT.

A spokesman for Cardiff Airport said: "We took four diversions overnight from London Gatwick.

"All passengers from these flights had made their way home by the early hours of this morning.

"Flights are operating as normal at Cardiff Airport. The latest live flight information is available on our website cardiff-airport.com."

Image source, Eddie Mitchell

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "Police at Gatwick Airport are continuing to assist airport security teams following a number of reports and sightings of drones in the vicinity of the airfield overnight on Wednesday and Thursday.

"The first report was made shortly after 21:00 GMT. Officers were deployed on to the airfield and surrounding areas and were joined by a National Police Air Service helicopter in seeking the drones and the operators."

Image source, Aaron Truss

Aaron Truss and his girlfriend are currently waiting in Gatwick airport for an Easyjet flight to Sicily in Italy, which was scheduled to depart at 07:25 GMT.

He said: “Our flight has been delayed by 30 minutes but this going to worsen due to other flight disruptions.

"More and more people are arriving, but no one is departing. Lots of people are killing time in shops, coffee bars or restaurants. Others are sleeping or patiently waiting with children.”

Image source, Aaron Truss

Image source, Aaron Truss

Image source, Eddie Mitchell

About 10,000 passengers have suffered disruption after the runway at Gatwick Airport was closed due to drones being flown nearby.

Flights in and out of the West Sussex airport were suspended at about 21:00 GMT on Wednesday after two of the devices were seen near the airfield.

Gatwick announced the runway had reopened at about 03:00 today, but 45 minutes later it was shut again after a further sighting of drones.

Chris Woodroofe, Gatwick's chief operating officer, said drones had been spotted over the airport as late as 07:00 GMT.

He criticised the "irresponsible" act.