Leeds Bradford airport closed due to drones

An ‘unmanned aerial vehicle’ has once again closed a UK airport

Diversionary tactics: the flightpath of the Jet2 arrival from Alicante, which eventually landed at Manchester (FlightRadar24)

Arrivals and departures at Leeds Bradford airport were halted this afternoon after a drone was sighted by the crew of an inbound flight.

The airport was immediately closed. Jet2 flights from Alicante and Malaga were diverted to Manchester.

A spokesperson for the airport said: “At 12.55pm today, an inbound flight spotted a drone on approach to Leeds Bradford airport.

“The necessary safety procedures were immediately activated, which resulted in the airport being closed for 45 minutes.

“We can now confirm that the airport is fully open and receiving flights again. “We are liaising with West Yorkshire Police regarding the incident and will continue to monitor the situation closely.”

At Gatwick airport, a drone was flown intermittently around the airport for 33 hours shortly before Christmas, triggering the cancellation of 1,000 flights and affecting 160,000 passengers.

Penalties for flying "unmanned aerial vehicles" near a UK airport have been strengthened.

The environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion has threatened to disrupt flights at Heathrow by deploying drones.

In 2017, Leeds Bradford airport was closed because of a suspicious package, with flights diverted to other airports in northern England.