Drone flights prompted the temporary shutdown of two of Scandinavia’s busiest airports. As a result, travel plans for tens of thousands of passengers were left in shambles. Those incidents were million dollar incidents that disrupted operations late Monday night and early Tuesday morning. With both Copenhagen Airport in Denmark and Oslo Airport in Norway heavily impacted.
As Thorkild Fogde, Denmark’s National Police Commissioner, stated yesterday, these drones flying over Copenhagen were not the work of amateurs or hobbyists. Rather, they were immense drones almost certainly flown by someone with serious skills. This was not a coincidence of any sort,” remarked Fogde, pointing out the coordinated and purposeful nature of the sightings. He added, “The way they went into the airspace, the number of drones, the time that they were in the airspace – altogether leads us to the conclusion that it must be some kind of more capable operator behind the drones.”
On Monday evening, two to three unclaimed drones appeared in the vicinity of Copenhagen Airport. As a result, the airspace was shut down for almost four hours. The airport serves nearly 30 million passengers annually and reopened around 12:20 a.m. local time, though delays and cancellations continued into the following day. Meanwhile, Oslo Airport faced a three-hour closure on Tuesday morning due to a separate drone sighting, reopening around 3:22 a.m. local time.
Even more troubling, according to Chief Superintendent Jens Jespersen of the Danish police, multiple drones launched from all sides. Or maybe they flashed their lights on and off before abandoning ship within a few hours. Authorities have not yet located the drones or determined their launch points but are investigating several hypotheses regarding their origins.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expressed concern over the incidents, stating she “cannot reject in any way that it could be Russia” behind the drone sightings. Heightened tensions continue to spread across Europe. This comes on the heels of previous incursions where Russian drones breached both Polish and Romanian airspace earlier this month.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, addressed the situation on social media, commenting, “While the facts are still being established, it is clear we are witnessing a pattern of persistent contestation at our borders.” She emphasized that “Our critical infrastructure is at risk” and assured that “Europe will respond to this threat with strength and determination.”
On Monday in Norway’s capital Oslo, police responded by making arrests — detaining two foreign nationals. They had been illegally operating drones over a no-fly zone. This is indicative of the growing worry about drone operations around critical infrastructure across Europe.
Fogde said there is at this point no evidence connecting the drone incidents in Copenhagen and Oslo. While investigations in this case are ongoing, law enforcement is always on the lookout for threats to air safety and national security.
