An international airport had to shut down due to the presence of drones, causing significant disruption on Monday evening. Reports indicated that up to three autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles were sighted over Copenhagen Airport in Denmark, leading to a heightened police presence in the area. Copenhagen Police Chief Henrik Stormer confirmed the situation, stating, “We have a significant presence out there.”
The airport ceased take-offs and landings around 8.26pm local time (7.26pm UK time) as per Naviair, the traffic control company for the airport. By 10.05pm local time (8.05pm UTC), FlightRadar on X (formerly Twitter) reported that over 35 flights bound for the airport had been redirected to alternate airports due to the drone activity.
A subsequent update indicated that flight #U24652 from Copenhagen to Paris had to return to the airport for further investigation into the reported drone sightings, with the airfield remaining closed until 2300 UTC. Local police confirmed the closure, mentioning the presence of 2-3 large drones in the airspace without a definitive timeline for reopening.
A spokesperson for Copenhagen Airport affirmed the airspace closure due to unidentified drones, stating that authorities were investigating the matter with no set timeline for resuming normal operations. Most affected flights were diverted to Malmö, Billund, Aarhus, and Gothenburg, while the origins of the drones remained unknown.
A passenger, Mikael Belstrup, expressed frustration over the situation, mentioning being stranded on a plane at the closed airport. In a separate incident, drones were also sighted in Oslo, Norway, above the Akershus Fortress, leading to arrests of two individuals in connection with the incident.
Copenhagen Airport, the largest in the Nordic region, served approximately 30 million passengers in the previous year. The recent drone incident follows a close encounter between a passenger jet and a drone near London’s Heathrow Airport in May, raising concerns about aviation safety. Another incident in January involved a drone nearly colliding with a Boeing 737 at Gatwick Airport, highlighting the risks posed by unauthorized drone activity near airports.