Drones Incident: This Maltese Family Is Stuck In The Caribbean Even As Gatwick Airport Opens
A lump of coal in your Christmas stocking is one present that you never want to have to deal with. But being stuck in a far-off country with no way back home beats this on an entirely new level.
A Maltese family gleefully trotted off to the Dominican Republic for a family wedding that took place last Monday. With the wedding wrapped up and all holiday energy spent, the family was ready to pack off home.
But following the drones incident at Gatwick airport south of London earlier this week, the family was stuck.
They rearranged their flights and were made to stay for three days longer, while they planned to fly to London from Miami.
Now, when Christopher Columbus reached the Dominican Republic there’s no chance he could have imagined the place to become anyone’s worst nightmare. But after being stuck there for longer than necessary, the enchantment of the place just kind of… wore off.
Quite the stretch: A Google Maps visual of the distance between Malta and the Dominican Republic
The family’s situation was then even further complicated as they couldn’t fly to the United States since they would need a visa to do so. The family was delayed coming back home yet again because of this, and now have made the necessary changes to, once more, re-adjust their plans in order to be back home in time for Christmas.
“This has disrupted people’s lives who are just trying to get home. A lot of people don’t have a lot of money to stay making these flight arrangements, especially when you consider that it’s happening just before Christmas.”
The daughter of the family, who is currently studying in England, told Lovin Malta that “it’s too expensive to fly home any other way, and there’s not even enough time when we fly back to London to get my stuff. So I’m not even going to have clothes for the winter.”
The situation at Gatwick airport
Gatwick airport opened in the early hours of this morning, but the family won’t arrive in Malta until Sunday. Other Maltese people were stranded at Gatwick last Thursday but these passengers were still able to make the trip to London by flying to Heathrow airport instead.
Images sent to Lovin Malta of queues at Gatwick Airport last Thursday
Last Wednesday, drones were spotted flying around Gatwick which delayed flights. The BBC reported that 760 flights had been due to arrive or depart from the airport but were all grounded.
On Friday, more than 150 flights were cancelled while Gatwick’s chief operating officer Chris Woodroofe said that morning that around 110,000 passengers who were due to arrive or depart had not travelled since Wednesday night.
Various media websites have reported that two people were arrested in connection with the Gatwick drones incident, though the investigation is ongoing. This morning, Gatwick airport posted on Twitter that its runway is now open.
Our runway is open. Passengers are advised to check with their airline before travelling to the airport.
— Gatwick Airport LGW (@Gatwick_Airport) December 22, 2018