Munich airport halts flights after drone sightings; passengers stranded

After drone sightings caused 17 flights to be canceled, 15 others to be diverted, and about 3, 000 passengers to be stranded, Germany’s Munich airport was forced to halt operations.

German air traffic control reported drone sightings on Thursday at 10:18pm local time [20:18 GMT], which led to a ban on flights before being upgraded to a full suspension, according to the airport early on Friday.

According to a statement from Munich airport, 15 flights that were scheduled to land in Munich were diverted to airports in Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna, and Frankfurt.

According to DPA news agency in Germany, police reported seeing a drone near the airport after several people reported seeing it, with drones later being seen over the airport grounds.

Police helicopters were deployed, but “nothing about the type and number of drones” is known, according to a police spokesperson.

The airport reported that the nearly 3, 000 passengers who had been impacted by the flight cancellations and diversions received camp beds and food from the airline and airport staff.

The safety of passengers is top priority when a drone is spotted, it continued.

The federal and state police are in charge of detecting and defending drones, the statement read.

The airport will remain closed through early on Friday, according to Flightradar24’s flight tracking service.

The Munich Airport is still operational until 0259 UTC this morning after drone sightings were reported earlier this evening. 14 flights were canceled. https://t.co/CFDGoduFWa pic. twitter.com/b5hwFI4xVZ

Following last week’s drone sightings that caused temporary closures at Danish and Norwegian airports, Munich’s closure comes as a result.

Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark, suggested that Russia might be to blame for the drone crashes that have occurred at various airports in her nation.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, made fun of European claims that Russian drones had invaded NATO airspace earlier on Thursday at the Valdai Discussion Group in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. He claimed he had no drones capable of carrying out the same actions as Denmark and that he had never had one that could carry him all the way to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.

“I won’t,” I said. I won’t send any more drones to Copenhagen, France, or any other country. Where else do they go on their “flights”? Puntin blasted.

He said, “We do not have drones that can reach Lisbon, if we speak seriously.”

As they met in Copenhagen, Denmark, days after the unidentified drones launched into the airspace, European Union leaders discussed plans to strengthen the bloc’s defenses against Russian drones on Wednesday.

After the EU summit, Prime Minister Frederiksen stated that “Europe must be able to defend itself.”

“We need to expand our production of drones, of anti-drone capabilities, and this includes establishing a network of European anti-drone measures that can prevent and, of course, neutralize intrusion from outside,” she said.

Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, called last month to demand that Europe’s eastern flank be protected by what she termed a drone wall, a network of sensors and weapons that can track, track, and neutralize intruding unmanned aircraft.

Her suggestion came shortly after 20 Russian drones sped into Polish airspace.