Suspected drones force second Munich airport closure in 24 hours

Germany’s Munich airport has halted flights for the second time in 24 hours, after more unconfirmed drone sightings.

In a statement on Friday evening, the airport said that flights were suspended at 21:30 local time (20:30 GMT), with around 6,500 passengers affected.

At least 17 flights were also grounded in Munich on Thursday evening due to multiple drone sightings in nearby airspace.

It’s the latest in a series of incidents involving drones that have disrupted aviation in Europe in recent weeks.

Authorities in Belgium on Thursday were also investigating sightings of 15 drones, which were seen above the Elsenborn military site near the German border as per Belgian media reports.

After the sighting, the drones reportedly flew from Belgium to Germany, where they were also observed by the police in the small German town of Düren.

Officials have been unable to identify where the drones originated or who operated them.

Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has said he will raise the matter of anti-drone defences at a Saturday meeting of European interior ministers, which was originally billed as a migration summit.

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Earlier on Friday, the minister also promised to bring forward proposed legislation making it easier for the police to ask the military to shoot drones down.

Recent drone sightings across the European Union prompted a leaders’ summit in Copenhagen this week.

Several EU member states have backed plans for a multi-layered “drone wall” to quickly detect, then track and destroy Russian drones.

Twenty Russian drones crossed into Poland and Russian MiG-31 jets entered Estonian airspace in separate recent incidents.

Copenhagen and Oslo airports were forced to close after unidentified drones were spotted near airport and military airspaces.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said ahead of the summit that airspace incursions were getting worse and that it was “reasonable to assume the drones are coming from Russia”.

Russia has denied any involvement, while Danish authorities say there was no evidence Moscow was involved.

Speaking to a summit in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin laughed off suggestions he ordered drones to Denmark.

“I won’t do it again. I won’t do it again – not to France or Denmark or Copenhagen,” Putin said.