Munich airport halts flights after drone sightings

Germany’s Munich airport halted flights after several drone sightings, a police spokesperson told AFP early Friday, the latest in a string of similar aviation disruptions across Europe.

The airport said in a statement that 17 flights departing Munich were canceled on Thursday night, affecting nearly 3,000 passengers, and 15 flights due to land were diverted to other cities, including Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna and Frankfurt.

Affected passengers in Munich were offered camp beds, blankets, drinks and snacks, the statement added.It did not specify when flights will resume.

Several people spotted drones around the airport at about 1930 GMT Thursday, and again an hour later, leading to the closure of both runways for an hour, the police spokesperson told AFP.

German authorities have launched a search to identify the origin of the drones.

Police helicopters were deployed but “no information is available on the type and number of drones,” the spokesperson said.

The incident comes ahead of the final weekend of Germany’s Oktoberfest, which draws hundreds of thousands of people every day to Munich.

Germany is on high alert over the threat of drones after sightings in other European countries caused airports to shut down including in Copenhagen, Oslo and Warsaw.

Poland and Denmark have suggested that Russia is to blame for the disruptions.

The 27 EU member states met in Copenhagen on Thursday to discuss bolstering the bloc’s defenses with the establishment of a “drone wall.”

German authorities have warned of a growing drone threat, saying a swarm of drones had flown over the country last week, including over military and industrial sites.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said Germany needed to “find new responses to this hybrid threat” — including potentially shooting down the drones.