Munich Airport Shut for Nearly Seven Hours Amid Drone Sightings

Munich Airport was forced to close for almost seven hours overnight after a series of drone sightings near the airfield, affecting dozens of flights and thousands of passengers.

According to the airport:

• 17 departing flights were grounded shortly after 10 p.m. local time on Thursday, impacting nearly 3,000 passengers.

• 15 arriving flights were diverted to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Frankfurt, and Vienna.

• Several planes were observed circling the airport around 11 p.m. before rerouting, as per flight tracking website Flightradar.

The airport reopened at 5 a.m. local time when authorities deemed it safe for arrivals and departures. The first scheduled landing was a Lufthansa long-haul flight from Bangkok at 5:25 a.m.

Lufthansa and Passenger Support

A Lufthansa spokesperson confirmed 19 flights were cancelled or diverted, including three long-haul flights to Asia. Passengers were provided with food, drinks, and blankets, and agency photos showed travelers sleeping on camp beds at the airport.

Drone Sightings Across Europe

Munich becomes the latest European airport to face closures due to drones. Denmark and Norway recently experienced a wave of drone sightings, affecting tens of thousands of passengers. Denmark subsequently banned all civil drone flights ahead of a European summit in Copenhagen focused on security measures and support for Ukraine.

The summit is expected to discuss the “drone wall” initiative, a layered network of detection and interception systems building on existing EU anti-drone capabilities.

Security Concerns and Russia

Europe has been on high alert due to recent drone sightings and alleged Russian incursions into NATO airspace over Poland and Romania, as well as a reported violation of Estonian airspace.

• Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that while the source of drone sightings remains unconfirmed, Russia poses the primary security threat to Europe.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin denied any involvement and dismissed Western claims as attempts to inflate defense spending, while issuing a veiled warning about Russian countermeasures if Europe continues militarization.

Munich, a city of over 1 million residents, had already been on edge after the Oktoberfest beer festival was temporarily halted earlier this week due to a bomb threat.