Air traffic at Berlin Brandenburg Airport was temporarily suspended on Friday evening following drone sightings, causing delays and flight diversions.
An airport spokesman said takeoffs and landings were suspended between 8:08 p.m. (1908 GMT) and 9:58 p.m. local time, and that a “whole series of flights” were diverted to other German cities during the closure.
He added that Berlin’s ban on night flights was also relaxed to mitigate the impact on flight operations. “We assume that the danger has been averted for the time being,” the spokesman said.
What do we know about the incident?
At around 8 p.m. (19:00 GMT), a witness reported seeing a drone, prompting the closure of the airport’s northern runway, according to a police spokesman.
Officers in a patrol car later observed a drone as well, but were unable to locate it.
The incident prompted a significant response, including the deployment of a police helicopter. Germany’s Federal Aviation Office also joined the operation.
Which flights were delayed or redirected?
The halt prevented flights to Basel, Oslo and Barcelona from departing.
A flight from London to Berlin was diverted to Hamburg, according to the dpa news agency, with the pilot citing drone activity as the reason.
Flight schedules showed that flights to Berlin from Stockholm, Antalya and Helsinki were also redirected.
Berlin Brandenburg Airport advised travelers to check their flight statuses with their airlines.
Drones banned around German airports
To prevent interference with takeoffs and landings, drones are banned within a 1.5-kilometer (1 mile) radius of German airports.
Sightings can result in the partial or full suspension of operations, and illegal flights near airports are considered dangerous with civil aviation and may result in severe punishment.
Recently, airports in Denmark, Norway, and Poland have suspended flights due to unidentified drones. In early October, drones were spotted over Munich, a city in southern Germany, twice shutting down the city’s airport and grounding thousands of passengers after their flights were canceled or rerouted.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko
