The British Airways flight from London to Bermuda was among hundreds cancelled yesterday amid security fears over illegal drone flights at Gatwick airport.

But BA flew an aircraft to Bermuda from London Heathrow to transport passengers booked to leave the island last night.

Bermudian mother Lisa James said her two daughters were at the Gatwick Hilton hotel last night and not sure if they would be able to continue on to Bermuda today.

She said: “I’m now here in Bermuda and I’m waiting to hear any update from BA or anyone to say if their flights are going to be cancelled because I don’t know.

“They are 16 and well-travelled, but a delay or cancellation could put them in a precarious position.

Ms James added she was in regular contact with her daughters. “The worst-case scenario is they fly from Heathrow or they are transferred back to Manchester and go through New York,” she said.

A spokeswoman for the airline said yesterday: “All flights at Gatwick airport have been cancelled following reports of drones flying over the airfield Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

“We take the safety of our customers and crew extremely seriously and, like most airlines at Gatwick airport, we have cancelled flights including BA 2233 to Bermuda.

The spokeswoman added: “Passengers are advised to keep checking the ba.com website for the latest time of departure from Bermuda. Our airport teams are working to minimise the disruption for our customers at what we know is a very important time of year.”

She said that BA had offered passengers scheduled to travel to or from Gatwick yesterday and today a range of rebook and refund options. She added that passengers should check ba.com for the latest information about their flight before they leave home.

The disruption of flights, which Sussex police said was deliberate, also affected Wednesday’s flight from Bermuda to Gatwick, which was diverted to Amsterdam’s Schiphol International Airport.

More than 110,000 passengers were affected by the mass cancellations and more flights were expected to be disrupted elsewhere because of the knock-on effect of the Gatwick closure.

The shutdown was ordered just after 5pm Bermuda time on Wednesday, when two drones were spotted flying “over the perimeter fence and into where the runway operates from”.

The runway reopened for a short time around 11pm Bermuda time on Wednesday night, but was closed again about 45 minutes later after “a further sighting of drones”.

The airport said yesterday morning that another drone had been spotted.

Sussex Police said the drones were not terror-related, but that the incidents were a “deliberate act” of disruption using “industrial specification” drones.

The BBC reported that more than 20 police units were looking for those responsible.

Anyone convicted of flying a drone in the airport’s restricted airspace could face up to five years in prison. The British Army was also called in to deploy specialist equipment.