Munich airport was forced to halt operations for the second day in a row on Friday over drone sightings, with dozens of flights and more than 6,000 passengers affected.
Airports in Denmark, Norway and Poland have recently suspended flights due to unidentified drones, while Romania and Estonia have pointed the finger at Russia, which has brushed off the allegations.
Munich airport said in a statement that on Friday “from 9:30 pm air traffic was restricted and then cancelled due to drone sightings”, meaning 23 incoming flights were diverted and 12 bound for Munich were cancelled.
Forty-six departures from the airport had to be cancelled or delayed until Saturday, with a total of 6,500 passengers affected.
A police spokesman told AFP that there were “two simultaneous confirmed drone sightings by police patrols just before 11 pm around the north and south runways”.
“The drones immediately moved away, before they could be identified,” he added.
“As on the previous night, the airport, in collaboration with the airlines, promptly provided supplies for passengers in the terminals. Camp beds were set up, along with blankets, drinks, and snacks,” the airport said.
The airport expects service to be resumed as normal at 5:00 am on Saturday.
The initial disruption on Thursday caused more than 30 flights to be cancelled there and left nearly 3,000 passengers stranded.
The first incident began at 8:30 pm local time on Thursday when police say drones were spotted in areas close to the airport, including the towns of Freising and Erding.
Erding plays host to an airfield used by the German military. Bild newspaper said some of the drones were spotted flying over the facility, although police could not confirm this.
The first drones near the airport perimeter were seen around 9:05 pm on Thursday, and then over the airport complex about an hour later.
The sightings ended around midnight, but not before causing the closure of both runways.
Police helicopters were deployed but “no information is available on the type and number of drones”, police said.
LND/SAE
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