British no-frills airline EasyJet on Tuesday said closure of London's Gatwick Airport before Christmas caused by reported sightings of drones had cost the group £15

million ($19.2 million, 17 million euros). EasyJet said it had lost £5.0 million in revenue and taken a hit of £10 million on passenger costs. "EasyJet has made a good start to the 2019 financial year with robust customer demand and ancillary sales, driving solid revenue generation," chief executive Johan Lundgren said in a trading update.

"This was underpinned by good operating and on-time performance across the network, with the exception of the disruption caused by the Gatwick closures due to drone sightings," he added.

Britain's second-busiest airport shut down for 36 hours in the week leading up to Christmas because of repeated reports of drone sightings, affecting 140,000 passengers, the majority being EasyJet customers.

EasyJet on Tuesday said about 82,000 of it passengers had been affected by the Gatwick closure after the airline was forced to cancel 400 flights. afp