Low-cost airline easyJet has revealed a £15 million hit from the disruption caused by drone sightings at Gatwick airport over Christmas.
The airline said the costs related to customer welfare costs, with the incident affecting around 82,000 customers. More than 400 flights were cancelled.
The group said it booked £10 million in extra costs and £5 million in lost revenues after more than 400 of its flights were cancelled when the drone sightings brought Gatwick to a standstill just before Christmas.
Chief executive Johan Lundgren said the group “did everything we could to help our customers affected by the incident”.
He added: “There has been a one-off cost impact from this incident, but underlying cost progress is in line with expectations.
“I am proud of the way our teams worked around the clock to mitigate the impact of the incident and looked after affected customers.”
But Lundgren said the incident was a “wake-up call” for airports…
