Munich airport closed for seven hours following wave of drone sightings

Germany’s Munich Airport was forced to close for seven hours on Thursday evening following a string of drone sightings, making it the latest European airport to halt business over drone incursions.

A series of drone sightings late Thursday forced Munish airport to ground 17 flights shortly after 10 p.m. (local time), affecting around 3,000 passengers, local authorities said. An additional 15 arriving flights were diverted to airports in Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Vienna. Stranded passengers were provided with blankets, camp beds and food during the closure.

Due to the dim lighting conditions above the airport, authorities were unable to determine the size and type of drones spotted flying during the night.

Flights out of Munich resumed at around 5:25 a.m.

The incident is the latest in a series of airport closures around Europe triggered by drone sightings. On Sept. 22, several large and unidentified drones were spotted flying near Copenhagen Airport in Denmark, and shortly after near Norway’s Oslo Airport. The sightings led to closures at both airports and dozens of flight cancellations or diversions.

Just a day later, similar drone activity was reported near Denmark’s Aalborg Airport and nearby military bases. In response, Denmark banned all civil drone flights in its airspace as it prepared to address its European allies in Copenhagen to discuss bolstering the region’s security against external threats.

German authorities have not blamed a single party for the drone incursion that closed Munich Airport. However, European leaders have said Russia is behind many of the recent drone incidents across Europe. In recent weeks, Russian drones have been spotted inside Polish and Romanian airspace, and NATO authorities allegedly intercepted three Russian jets above Estonian airspace.

The incidents have enraged European leaders and raised serious concerns over NATO’s ability to defend its own airspace. On Wednesday, European Union leaders converged on Copenhagen to discuss the possibility of building a “drone wall,” or an interconnected system of sensors and intercepting platforms aimed at defending against incoming drone attacks.

Detailed budgets or architectures for the drone wall have not yet been released.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that Moscow was at all involved in the string of drone sightings, alleging that the claims were part of NATO’s efforts to justify boosting defense spending.

“We are carefully watching the growing militarization of Europe,” Mr. Putin said in a televised address Thursday. “Is all of this just words, or is it time for us to take countermeasures? No one should have doubt that Russia’s countermeasures will not take a long time to come.”