On Friday morning, October 3, 2025, Munich Airport in Germany reported multiple drone sightings on Thursday night, forcing the air traffic control department to temporarily suspend airport operations. This led to the cancellation of 17 flights, disrupting the travel plans of nearly 3,000 passengers.
In a statement, the airport announced that 15 flights that were scheduled to land in Munich were diverted to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna, and Frankfurt. This is the latest incident of airspace disruption in the European aviation sector following the temporary closure of airports in Denmark and Norway last week due to drone incidents.
The airport stated that due to repeated drone sightings, German air traffic control officials restricted flight operations at Munich Airport starting at 10:18 PM local time on Thursday night, eventually leading to a complete halt in operations.
Flight tracking service Flightradar24 indicated that the airport would remain closed until 02:59 Greenwich Mean Time, corresponding to 4:59 AM local time on Friday morning.
The airport’s website showed that the first arriving flight on Friday was expected to land at 5:25 AM, with the first departure scheduled for 5:50 AM.
Earlier this week, Munich was already on edge as the city received bomb threats and explosives were discovered in a residential building in the northern part of the city, resulting in the temporary closure of the popular beer festival.
Denmark has not explicitly identified the culprit behind the incidents that disrupted airspace in multiple airports last week, but Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen hinted that Russia may be involved.
During a meeting on Wednesday, EU leaders supported a plan to enhance Europe’s defense against Russian drones.
On Thursday, Russian President Putin jokingly stated that he would no longer send drones over Denmark, although Moscow denied responsibility for these events.
(Adapted from relevant reports by Reuters)