Disruption threat at Heathrow

You have no choice of airports should your flight divert.

A few years ago, my flight had to divert to Stansted due to delays and fuel needs. We were not allowed off the plane since Border Force wasn't available at Stansted. We refueled and then flew to Heathrow arriving about 1.5 hours late. Even if diverted, they will arrange ground transportation to Heathrow.

The police took a lot of heat for their relaxed stance with the London protests. I doubt they will allow this to happen at Heathrow. The use of drones is a serious security and safety issue and does not just get them a slap on the wrist.

If flights to London do get disrupted, you could end up in Frankfurt, Paris Amsterdam or... ? ...... depending on what airports have capacity to take on unplanned planes; and how much fuel reserves your plane has will affect the options available to it.

If being in Norwich on the 2nd is critical, perhaps flying in a day or 2 earlier should be considered.

Thanks for the replies so far. Probably easier for me to skip day 1 of my planned Norfolk tour than to rearrange flights all the way from Australia at peak holiday season.

Since the drone incident at Gatwick last Christmas both airports have invested millions in Israeli built anti drone systems. I suspect that any attempt at a drone attack will very quickly be thwarted. Extinction Rebellion also like to talk a lot of hype but their recent attempt at disrupting Heathrow was such a damp squib that it barely went noticed.

It's easier for them to cause disruption in the streets around London but far more difficult in a secure area such as Heathrow, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Many thanks for the reassurance, JC. Coincidentally while looking at connections from Amsterdam to Norwich airport (just in case, y'know . . .) this newsflash came up:--

The drone flight restriction zone around airports and airfields has
changed. For full details visit www.dronesafe.uk/restrictions

Restriction zones at all airports considerably extended.

The restriction zones around the airports were already sufficient, this change in law simply adds a bit more of a buffer should anyone struggle with the concept of flying a drone close to an airport. However, if you're dettermined to break the law as a form of protest then no amount of restriction zone is going to put you off, fortunately with the systems now in place your drone is not going to be flying for long.