The  UK's busiest airports Gatwick's runway has been forced to shut down since Wednesday night, when two Drone devices were seen flying over the air field, causing misery for tens of thousands of stuck passengers just days before Christmas. Police were still hunting for the drone operator after another device was reported just before 07:00 GMT. Gatwick is the eighth-busiest airport in Europe and sits behind Mumbai as the world's busiest single runway air hub.

Two drones were first spotted flying over the airport at around 9:00 pm (2100 GMT) on Wednesday. The airfield briefly reopened at 3:00 am on Thursday, but had to be closed again following further sightings. "All flights to and from Gatwick are suspended due to ongoing drone activity around the airport. Unfortunately, there are significant delays and cancellations to all flights," the airport said.

"We apologise to everyone affected, but the safety of all our passengers and staff is our number one priority."

Dr Alan McKenna, from the University of Kent, said the drones appeared to be "of an industrial size" not "one you can buy from the shops".

"We believe this to be a deliberate act to disrupt the airport. However, there are absolutely no indications to suggest this is terror-related," said Superintendent Justin Burtenshaw of the local Sussex Police force.

The runway briefly reopened at 03:01 but was closed again about 45 minutes later  "a further sighting of drones". Gatwick chief operating officer Chris Woodroofe said: "The police are looking for the operator and that is the way to disable the drone." He said police had not wanted to shoot the devices down because of the risk from stray bullets. About 10,000 passengers were affected overnight on Wednesday and Gatwick said 110,000 people were due to either take off or land at the airport on Thursday. Incoming planes were diverted to other airports including London Heathrow, Luton, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow, Paris and Amsterdam.

The travellers have spent the morning waiting inside Gatwick's terminal for updates, while others reported being stuck on grounded planes for hours.

A Gatwick spokeswoman said extra staff had been brought in and the airport was "trying their best" to provide food and water to those who needed it.

The airport's chief operating officer Chris Woodroofe admitted it could take days to recover services, warning those responsible they could face five years in jail. 

He blasted the "irresponsible" act, telling BBC Radio 4's Today that 10,000 people had been affected by the closure, including 2,000 whose flights had been unable to take off. Mr Woodroofe said the situation would be re-assessed with a view to re-open at 8am, but at 7.40am, the airport said flights remained suspended "due to drone activity". The re-opening time has now been pushed back to 2pm. He added  "They disappeared and reappeared over the night period from 9pm until 3am, at which point we reopened the runway.

"That lasted 45 minutes before the drones reappeared again and we are currently closed and it is our intention to review the situation when we have daylight at 8am.”   And a unit of 20 police two forces were hunting for the Drone pilot, saying: "The police are looking for the operator and that is the way to disable to drone.”