Munich airport officials said 17 flights were unable to take off, affecting almost 3,000 passengers, while 15 arriving flights were diverted to three other airports in Germany and one in Vienna, Austria.
The Munich airport was forced to temporarily shut down on Thursday night after a string of drone sightings in the area, airport officials said. Germany’s air traffic control restricted flights at the airport shortly after 10 pm on Thursday and then halted them altogether, airport operators said.
3,000 passengers stranded after 17 flights disrupted
Giving more details, officials said 17 flights were unable to take off, affecting almost 3,000 passengers, while 15 arriving flights were diverted to three other airports in Germany and one in Vienna, Austria.
“When a drone is sighted, the safety of air travellers is the top priority,” the airport said in the statement. This incident comes after similar disruptions were reported last week when drone sightings led to temporary shutdowns at airports in Denmark and Norway.
It should be noted that the incident is a new entry in a series of incidents of mysterious drone sightings over airports as well as other critical infrastructure sites in Europe.
Reason for the chaos not clear yet
However, it wasn’t immediately clear who has been behind the flyovers, but European authorities have expressed concerns that Russia could be behind them. But the Russian authorities have rejected claims of involvement in recent drone incidents in Denmark.
Notably, Munich airport is already on alert earlier in the week when its Oktoberfest festival was briefly shut after a bomb threat and explosives were found in a residential building in the northern part of the city. Located in southern Germany, the Munich Airport is a hub for Lufthansa and handled nearly 20 million passengers in the first half of this year.
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