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Gatwick Airport’s runway has reopened with planes coming to and from the airport, after days of drone chaos brought it to a standstill.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers were affected by the major security operation, which meant no planes were landing or leaving the site.

While a “limited number” of planes were set for departure and arrival after the runway was reopened, Gatwick warned disruption would continue today.

A China Eastern Airlines flight from Shanghai and a plane from East Midlands Airport were the first planes to land after being given the all-clear.

Gatwick chaos - In pictures 21 show all Gatwick chaos - In pictures 1/21 Marisa age 10 from West Sussex waiting for a bus to Manchester airport then onto Dubai for a family Christmas Jeremy Selwyn 2/21 Adele Barber mother and kids Philip James and Elizabeth Just back from their holiday in Lapland to see Father Christmas. They were delayed overnight in Lapland Jeremy Selwyn 3/21 Elizabeth Barber Just back from a holiday to Lapland to see Father Christmas with family . Jeremy Selwyn 4/21 Staff try to lift the mood of gloomy travellers Jeremy Selwyn 5/21 Passengers boarding coaches at Gatwick this morning Jeremy Selwyn 6/21 Passengers sleep on the floor of the terminal 7/21 Passengers sleep on the floor of the terminal 8/21 Passengers sleep on the floor of the terminal 9/21 Passengers sleep on the floors and seats of the terminal 10/21 Jeremy Selwyn 11/21 Passengers head for the coaches to catch redirected flights Jeremy Selwyn 12/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 13/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 14/21 Florinane Tarrou and Sandra Shaffner stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 15/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 16/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 17/21 Remi Denton 19 and boyfriend Dylan Batley amongst passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 18/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 19/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 20/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 21/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 1/21 Marisa age 10 from West Sussex waiting for a bus to Manchester airport then onto Dubai for a family Christmas Jeremy Selwyn 2/21 Adele Barber mother and kids Philip James and Elizabeth Just back from their holiday in Lapland to see Father Christmas. They were delayed overnight in Lapland Jeremy Selwyn 3/21 Elizabeth Barber Just back from a holiday to Lapland to see Father Christmas with family . Jeremy Selwyn 4/21 Staff try to lift the mood of gloomy travellers Jeremy Selwyn 5/21 Passengers boarding coaches at Gatwick this morning Jeremy Selwyn 6/21 Passengers sleep on the floor of the terminal 7/21 Passengers sleep on the floor of the terminal 8/21 Passengers sleep on the floor of the terminal 9/21 Passengers sleep on the floors and seats of the terminal 10/21 Jeremy Selwyn 11/21 Passengers head for the coaches to catch redirected flights Jeremy Selwyn 12/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 13/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 14/21 Florinane Tarrou and Sandra Shaffner stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 15/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 16/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 17/21 Remi Denton 19 and boyfriend Dylan Batley amongst passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 18/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 19/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 20/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn 21/21 Passengers stranded at Gatwick Airport today Jeremy Selwyn

Chris Woodroofe, chief operating officer for Gatwick, said: "We now have passengers arriving and departing. We are very much hoping to run a schedule today. It's going to be disruptive. Passengers are going to be delayed. And every passenger should check with their airline before they come to the airport.

"We are very much hoping to get 100,000 passengers on their way to destinations and back into Gatwick Airport so we can begin to recover from this 36 hour incident and get those passengers to their destinations in time for Christmas."

Mr Woodroofe said he hopes the airport will be back to normal by the end of Saturday.

He previously stated more than 100 flights had already been cancelled on Friday.

British Airways on Twitter said the majority of flights are “operating as scheduled”. In an update on its website, EasyJet said: "Gatwick airport have confirmed that the runway is now open.

“We do expect that the number of departures and landings will be restricted to begin with, which means that we are likely to experience more disruption to the flying programme."

On Friday morning, the airport said it was working to "introduce a limited number of flights" over the coming hours, but urged passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling.

Police had earlier said shooting the drone down was a "tactical option" being considered.

Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Tingley, of Sussex Police, said there had been more than 50 sightings of the device in the 24 hours since 9pm on Wednesday, when the airport first closed.

Speaking to reporters outside the airport's South Terminal on Thursday night, he said: "We will do what we can to take that drone out of the sky and remove that disruption so we can get Gatwick back to normal.

"One of the options is to use firearms officers if that presents itself - they have been out on the ground today and that's a consideration and a tactical option that's open to us.

"There are a number of factors in terms of range, the height of the drone and the likely impact on us firing at the drone but that is a tactical option open to the gold commander who will make a decision based on the information available to them at the time."

Mr Tingley added police were working on the assumption the drone had been modified, with the "intent of causing disruption", and were looking through CCTV to identify the make and model.

He said they were following up a "number of persons of interest" in their investigations, with the military drafted in to offer additional support to officers.

According to reports, one line of inquiry was that a lone wolf eco-warrior was behind the attack.

Chris Woodroofe, Gatwick's chief operating officer, said 120,000 passengers' flights had been disrupted.

He refused to comment on the possibility of the airport awarding compensation to passengers who had been affected by the chaos.

He added: "The issue from my perspective is that this has been a criminal act purposefully undertaken in order to cause this disruption and I very much hope we bring the perpetrator to justice."

The incident led to calls for more action to tackle illegal drone use.

The runway has been closed almost constantly since two drones were spotted being flown inside Gatwick's perimeter at 9pm on Wednesday.

It was reopened at 3am on Thursday but was closed 45 minutes later after the drones re-emerged.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said there was no known motive for the pilot of the "commercial" drone.