The Gatwick drone attack which caused Christmas misery for hundreds of thousands of travellers was possibly an inside job, the airport's chief has said.
Gatwick's chief operating officer, Chris Woodroofe, has gone on the record for the first time since the chaotic scenes in December last year.
He told the BBC’s Panorama that the drone operators had a “clear” link to airport operations.
Mr Woodroofe said of the repeated drone sightings: “When you want to restart operations at the airport, there’s a set process that you go through. Vehicles check the runway, there’s radio traffic and then aircraft start to taxi.
“Every time this restart process began, the drone reappeared.
“And so it was clear that the drone operators had a link into what was going on at the airport – be that a visual link, be that a radio link or even using the internet, where much of this information is readily available.”
Mr Woodroofe also told the programme, which will air on Monday, that the drone’s pilot "seemed to be able to see what was happening on the runway".
Sussex Police, meanwhile, said the possibility of the culprit – who has not been found – being an insider is a “credible line” as it continues to investigate.
It is not the first time the attack has been labelled an inside job. In February, The Times reported Whitehall sources as saying a current or former employee at the airport was likely to be the culprit.
The drone attack, which caused the cancellation of up to 1,000 flights between December 19 and 21, affected about 140,000 people.
