Munich Airport closed after wave of drone sightings, officers say

[ad_1] Munich Airport in Germany was pressured to shut briefly final night time after a wave of drone sightings, the most recent European aviation hub to shutter over unexplained drone flights.

A complete of 17 flights have been grounded shortly after 10 p.m. native time on Thursday, affecting almost 3,000 passengers, the airport mentioned in a press release.

As well as, 15 arriving flights have been diverted to the German cities of Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Frankfurt, in addition to Vienna in neighboring Austria, the assertion mentioned. Flight monitoring web site Flightradar confirmed a number of planes circling the airport at round 11pm native time earlier than heading to different locations.

A name handler fielding passenger enquiries for Munich Airport in a single day informed CNN: “Some flights are nonetheless ready to take off, others have been canceled. All the pieces is below management and the airport is because of reopen at 5 a.m.”

A departures board on the airport’s web site confirmed a number of flights with a “deliberate” departure standing for after 5 am native time.

The airport in Bavaria, southern Germany, is a hub for German flag-carrier Lufthansa, and served almost 20 million passengers within the first half of this 12 months.

A Lufthansa spokesperson informed CNN that 19 of its flights have been cancelled or diverted as a result of closure, together with three long-haul flights to Asia that are set to be rescheduled.

It had supplied the affected passengers with meals, drink and blankets, they mentioned.

CNN has reached out to the Bavarian state police, Germany’s Federal Felony Police Workplace, and Germany’s home intelligence company for remark.

Munich turns into the most recent European airport to shut after sightings of drones close by. A spate of sightings over a number of airports in Denmark final week noticed tens of hundreds of passengers impacted.

Denmark later banned all civil drone flights in its airspace because it ready to host a summit of European leaders in Copenhagen this week to debate help for Ukraine in its struggle towards Russia, and bolstering European safety.

On the summit leaders have been anticipated to debate a number of measures supposed to guard the continent’s skies, together with a flagship “drone wall” initiative.

The drone wall initiative wouldn't be a bodily wall, however as a substitute a layered community of detection and interception techniques, constructing on particular person EU members’ anti-drone capabilities.

Europe has been on excessive alert in latest weeks resulting from a string of drone sightings, in addition to alleged incursions by Russian drones into NATO airspace over Poland and Romania, and the alleged violation of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen mentioned that whereas authorities can't conclude who was behind the drone sightings in Denmark, “we are able to no less than conclude that there's primarily one nation that poses a risk to Europe’s safety – and that's Russia.”

The Kremlin has denied involvement within the drone sightings, in addition to that it violated Estonian airspace.

Throughout a prolonged 4 hour televised occasion on Thursday, which touched on a number of key sticking factors with Europe and the US, Putin scoffed at Western claims of potential Russian involvement in latest drone flights over Denmark, casting them as a part of purported NATO efforts to “inflame tensions to spice up the protection spending.”

“I gained’t anymore. To not France, to not Denmark, to not Copenhagen,” he joked, in reference to the drone flight allegations.

However he additionally issued a veiled risk.

“We're fastidiously watching the rising militarization of Europe,” he mentioned. “Is all of this simply phrases or is it time for us to take countermeasures? Nobody ought to have doubt that Russia’s countermeasures won't take a very long time to come back.”

Munich, a historic metropolis of greater than 1 million individuals, was already on edge after its famed Oktoberfest beer competition was closed for several hours earlier this week resulting from a bomb risk.