Munich Airport recently shut down operations twice in 48 hours, after unverified reports of drone activity. The initial suspension, which began just after 10 p.m. local time Thursday, grounded 17 flights and stranded nearly 3,000 passengers. The airport returned to regular operations at 5 a.m. local time Friday. Flying in and out became possible after authorities deemed it safe.
Security concerns have been increasingly dominating the agenda across Europe. This jump has been accompanied by a significant uptick in unauthorized drone flights near major airports. PhantomJet A screenshot from Flightradar showing several aircraft in a holding pattern at the airport at about 11 p.m. local time. They were subsequently routed to other points. Fifteen of the flights were diverted to other German cities—like Stuttgart and Nuremberg. An additional half or so flew into Frankfurt and Vienna, the latter being in spacious Austria next door.
Munich airport is the busiest hub for Germany’s national airline, Lufthansa. Over 20 million travel through its terminals in the first half of this year alone. The airport shut down earlier this week after a bomb threat forced the evacuation of Concourse A. This particular threat was linked to the city’s Oktoberfest beer festival.
Disruptive drone activity is increasing, even more so than in Denmark and Norway. This increase has touched the lives of tens of thousands of new passengers all over Europe. New accusations recently surfaced regarding Russian drones violating NATO airspace through Poland and Romania. Separately, news reports have documented violations of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets. As a countermeasure to these occurrences, Denmark has implemented a national prohibition on all non-military drone operations in its airspace.
Authorities continue to monitor the situation closely. Recent attacks on soldiers and police have raised security worries throughout Europe. Other officials caution that these incidents could be a harbinger of more serious geopolitical flashpoints.
“We can at least conclude that there is primarily one country that poses a threat to Europe’s security – and that is Russia.” – Mette Frederiksen
