Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has told MPs a drone was unlikely to have been the object which struck a British Airways flight coming into Heathrow earlier this month.
The pilot of the flight from Geneva, with 132 passengers on board, reported to police that an object had struck the front of the plane as it was flying at around 1,700ft over the area of Richmond Park before landing.
An investigation was launched into a possible drone incident.
Although air accident investigators have not ruled it out altogether, they now say there is no evidence to support the belief that it was a drone.
Instead, the BBC reports that investigators now believe it was floating debris.
The Department for Transport is set to publish a strategy for unmanned remote control or pre-programmed aircraft later this year.
In January, a flight was delayed at Heathrow after a drone caused the closure of the departure runway.
In August 2015, a drone was seen just 50 metres away from colliding with a passenger plane in a ‘possibly catastrophic’ near miss above London City Airport.
Drone users are prohibited from flying them above 400ft or near buildings and crowds of people.
Those flying a drone near an airport can face a punishment of up to five years in prison.
