Rock fan CLOSES major airport after flying drone at Download festival just a mile away sparking more travel mayhem

ROCK fans closed a major airport by flying a drone just a mile away at Download festival.

The heavy metal listeners forced six passenger flights and two cargo planes to reroute as the runway shut for an hour last night.

East Midlands Airport managing director Clare James said: "It beggars belief that someone would do this.

"It's a criminal offence, it is very inconvenient for passengers, it costs thousands of pounds for cargo carriers but most of all it is a flight safety risk.

"We have detection equipment here, we are working with police, so my message to whoever is doing this is just stop or face prosecution."

Passengers were rerouted to Birmingham International, London Stansted and London Luton airports instead.

The three-day Download festival runs until tomorrow at Donington Park, Leicestershire.

In a joint-statement with the police and airport, the festival team said: "Both the festival organisers and the police have enhanced the number of patrols on site and the surrounding areas.

"The public are reminded that flying a drone in proximity to an operational airport is an offence under the Civil Aviation Act 1982 and is a huge risk to public safety.

"The police will take appropriate action if necessary."

One passenger who was waiting to land in the early hours wrote online: "Don’t be them people at Download 2022 who fly drones over East Midlands airport.

"It’s currently 1:17 AM. And we’ve had to divert to Leeds Bradford as there’s drones over the airport from Download!

"DONT BE THEM PEOPLE!"

The festival has been running since 2003 and attracts some of the biggest names in rock and heavy metal, including Iron Maiden, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Korn and Aerosmith.

Iron Maiden, Megadeath and Deftones are among the headliners this year.

It comes amid travel chaos with flight cancellations, rail strikes and rocketing fuel prices.

The latest travel woe saw petrol hit £2 a litre as rail unions announced a national three-day strike.

And there was no end in sight to the airport chaos.