Drones, spotted on Wednesday evening, caused flight delays and cancellations in Gatwick Airport. Almost 10k passengers have been affected when the runway was closed on Wednesday night at 9.03pm.

Passengers are told to check their flight status before arriving to the Gatwick Airport, while the airport is supposed to have disruptions for several days, even when the airport reopens.

Press renews information about the situation in Gatwick Airport continually. As a result, arriving planes were diverted to other UK airports. Unfortunately, today was one of the busiest airport day for festive travel, there are more flights only on December 22 and December 21.

It is planned that Gatwick Airport will remain closed until 10pm today. However, flight disruptions during today will have effect on several days flights. Number of airlines had to cancel their flights. EasyJet had to cancel a lot of flights as its largest base in Europe is Gatwick. British Airways did the same.

Can I get delayed or cancelled flight compensation from/to Gatwick Airport in this case? No. Under EU Regulation 261/2004 airport closure due to a decision by air traffic control to suspend flights is considered as an extraordinary circumstance. Unfortunately, extraordinary circumstances are not refundable.

However, all air passengers must be provided by food and drink and internet or call. Also airlines must provide an overnight stay in the hotel and the transfer for their passengers if needed. The expenses for the cancelled flight must be covered or another flight must be provided by airlines.

To conclude, it is extremely important to know Air Passenger Rights in order to know what service must be provided to air passengers during flight delay or cancellation.