Munich airport latest to close after wave of drone sightings in Europe

Munich Airport was shut down for nearly seven hours overnight following multiple drone sightings, marking the latest disruption at a major European aviation hub due to mysterious drone activity.

The airport reported that 17 departing flights were cancelled shortly after 10 p.m. local time on Thursday (Oct 2), impacting around 3,000 travellers.

Meanwhile, 15 inbound flights had to be rerouted to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, and Frankfurt in Germany, as well as Vienna, Austria. Data from tracking service Flightradar showed several aircraft circling near Munich around 11 p.m. before diverting to alternate destinations.

Operations resumed at 5 a.m. local time, once authorities confirmed it was safe for planes to land and take off, a spokesperson told CNN.

The first plane scheduled to land after the closure was a Lufthansa long-haul service from Bangkok, expected to arrive at 5:25 a.m., according to the airport’s website.

Munich Airport, located in Bavaria, serves as a key hub for Lufthansa and handled nearly 20 million passengers in the first six months of this year.

Munich is the most recent European airport to shut down following nearby drone sightings.

In recent weeks, a series of similar incidents at airports in Denmark and Norway disrupted travel for tens of thousands of passengers.

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