Drones Shut Down Munich Airport in Latest Incursion of EU Airspace

Munich Airport was temporarily shut down on Thursday night after several unidentified drone sightings in the area, the latest in the airspace of European Union countries in recent weeks, officials said.

Germany’s air traffic control restricted flights at the airport—the second busiest in the country—shortly after 10 p.m. on Thursday and then halted them altogether, airport operators said in a statement.

The incident came ahead of a German national holiday and the final weekend of the Oktoberfest event, which draws hundreds of thousands of people to Munich every day.

Authorities did not immediately provide information about who they believed was responsible for the drone overflights, but Markus Soeder, the regional prime minister of Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital, called for additional powers to be able to deal with such incursions.

“Our police must get the power to shoot drones down,” Soeder told Bild newspaper.

A total of 17 flights were grounded, affecting almost 3,000 passengers, while 15 arriving flights were diverted to three other German airports and one to the Austrian capital, Vienna. Flights in and out of the airport resumed at 5 a.m., said Stefan Bayer, a spokesman for Germany’s federal police at Munich airport.

Bayer said it was unclear how many drones might have been involved, and that police, airline employees, and airport visitors were among witnesses who reported the sightings.

‘No Trace’ Found

After the closure of the runways, police deployed helicopters and other means to try to track down the drones, but no trace of them could be found, Bayer said.

The disruption meant that hundreds of stranded passengers had to spend the night either in the airport or in nearby hotels.

The incident was the latest in a series of drone sightings over airports as well as other critical infrastructure sites in several EU countries.

In Belgium, several drones were spotted overnight above the Elsenborn military base, around 375 miles from the German border on the same night as the Munich incident, Defense Minister Theo Francken told Le Soir newspaper.

A defense ministry investigation is ongoing, and Francken said the nature of the flights was “suspicious and unknown.”

A drone incident in Oslo, the capital of Norway, which is a NATO member but not part of the EU, also affected flights there in late September, at the same time as sightings above Danish airports.

Kremlin Rejected Claims

European authorities have suggested that Russia could be behind the drones, although the Kremlin has rejected claims of involvement in the recent airport disruptions in Denmark.

“The incident in the sky above Copenhagen Airport reveals a clear desire to provoke NATO countries into a direct military confrontation with Russia,” Moscow’s ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, said in a statement.

In September, Estonian officials accused Russia of flying several fighter aircraft over its airspace without permission, remaining there for a total of 12 minutes. Estonia, a NATO member, shares a border with Russia and is a former Soviet Union state.

The drone sightings and high-profile aerial incursions by Moscow in Estonia and Poland have led to suggestions from political leaders that Russia’s war with Ukraine could spill over into the borders of neighboring countries.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia did not violate Estonia’s airspace and said there was no evidence to back up the country’s claims.

NATO Considers Options

President Donald Trump said on Sept. 23 that NATO members should shoot down Russian aircraft that enter their territories, after both Estonia and Poland scrambled jets in response to drones entering their airspace.

Trump was answering questions from reporters during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, and said there was a possibility that the United States would join efforts to take down Russian aircraft that violate the airspace of NATO allies.

“Depends on the circumstance,” he said. “But you know, we’re very strong toward NATO.”

Denmark said on Sept. 25 it is considering whether to invoke Article 4 of the NATO treaty following the drone incursions into its airspace.

Article 4 states that NATO members will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territory, political independence, or security of any member is threatened.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report