This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Drone chaos at Gatwick dominates the front pages today, with papers talking about a “lone-wolf” “maniac” who has “ruined” Christmas for hundreds of thousands of passengers.

The Daily Mail is incredulous, asking: “How COULD this speck in the sky ruin Christmas for 350,000?”

The newspaper was ready to call off Christmas, saying “Up to 350,000 passengers had their Christmas holiday plans ruined yesterday as a rogue drone operator single-handedly brought our second largest airport to its knees.”

The Express feels similarly: “Just how can drone maniac shut Gatwick?”.

Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) EXPRESS: Just how can drone maniac shut Gatwick? #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/EDiqUSgHpy

“Chaos in the skies,” was the i’s headline. Its story speaks of the “manhunt” underway for what it dubs the “Gatwick drone attacker”.

The Sun calls the drone pilot: “The drone wolf”, saying that a “lone-wolf eco activist” was “feared to be behind” the attacks.

The Sun (@TheSun) Tomorrow's front page: Gatwick to be shut 'for foreseeable future' as 'eco-warrior' sends up drone AGAIN despite being hunted by cops, Army and MI5 for 24 hours https://t.co/XGQafnlPDG pic.twitter.com/P2Oj1UaZgs

The Telegraph is also blaming environmentalists, citing a Whitehall source who suggested they could be responsible: “Eco-warriors blamed for drone attack that crippled Gatwick”, is their headline.

The Telegraph (@Telegraph) The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph: 'Eco-warriors blamed for drone attack that crippled Gatwick' #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/HVUS9GZlEy

The Guardian reports “Gatwick chaos sparks call for new controls on drones”, and reports on the “disbelief that the incident could be enough to bring one of Britain’s main airports to a standstill”.



The Times focuses on the decision to bring in the army, in a bid to catch the “operators behind Christmas misery”. Their splash is: “Army called in as drones force Gatwick shutdown”.

The Guardian (@guardian) Guardian front page, Friday 21 December 2018: Gatwick chaos sparks call for new controls on drones pic.twitter.com/ELGwgn8rLv