Aurigny is praised for its ‘community spirit’

Passenger Stace Blondel, 38, who had been in London to watch a gig, said Aurigny had dealt with the Gatwick closure very well.

‘I went through security with no knowledge of any delays or the drone situation,’ he said.

‘I had breakfast with flight info at 7.55 (it was about 7.25). About 20 minutes later flight info said go to airport information desk.

‘I had begun to notice queues and more sleeping passengers than usual and I queued for ages and noticed airlines slowly telling people flights were cancelled.

‘Aurigny staff at airport info desk were there; they gave us as much info as they could and then one of them ‘‘decontrolled’’ us by walking us in the back corridors and through security wrong way, took us to check in desk.

‘Then after queueing we were given a refreshment voucher and told that they were coaching us to Southampton and letting us fly from there.’

Finance worker Kyle Spence, 45, is due to fly to Spain this morning but his flight to Gatwick yesterday was redirected to Southampton yesterday at 10.20am.

He said it was an unavoidable situation.

‘Thankfully, I woke up at around 2am and checked Twitter and saw the news that there had been drones sighted and just after 3am they said they would open the runway, then they sighted another one and closed it again.

‘I looked on the Guernsey airport website to see whether or not I should still come in.

‘I’ve decided not to go through security just yet to see what happens.

‘There was a little bit of a queue for check-in but it was dealt with quickly.

‘It’s outside anyone’s control, there’s not much anyone can do about it. We’ll do what we can do, hopefully I can get to Spain in time for Christmas, it’s no one’s fault, I just feel for everyone stuck at Gatwick,’ he said.

Islanders also took to Twitter to vent their anger at the drone situation but also to praise the island’s airline for its response.

Ruth Robinson said: ‘Son being bussed to Southampton from Gatwick.

‘There is a value to the community aspect of Aurigny’s service which we don’t always appreciate.’

David Piesing replied: ‘Yes – just been advised that GR611 tonight going from Southampton rather than from Gatwick. Good solution and excellent from Aurigny.’

Michelle Duquemin’s daughter was supposed to be flying out of Spain trying to get home for Christmas.

‘Ban the curse of private drones outright, my daughter now stuck in Spain trying to get home to Guernsey for Christmas involving two flights in and out of Gatwick, drones need licensing, huge invasion of privacy aside from air safety concerns.’