Berlin airport suspends flights after drone sightings

Flight operations were suspended for almost two hours at Germany’s Berlin airport following mysterious drone sightings, weeks after a similar incident led to the shutdown of the Munich airport. In fact, over the past two months, such drones have been sighted in the airspace of European Union member countries.

Operations resumed at the airport, the third-largest in Germany, after nearly two hours, as several harried passengers took to social media to vent their frustration. A spokesperson at Berlin’s Brandenburg airport said a “whole series of flights” were diverted to other German cities during the closure.

Berlin’s ban on night flights was also relaxed. “We assume that the danger has been averted for the time being,” the spokesman said, according to DW news.

Drones are banned within a 1.5-km radius of airports in Germany.

3 DRONE SIGHTINGS OVER BERLIN AIRPORT

A drone was first sighted by an airport official over the northern runway. Officials in a patrol car later observed a drone as well. An emergency was declared at the airport, and flight operations were halted. A police helicopter was also deployed to trace the drones.

The situation prevented flights to Basel, Oslo and Barcelona from departing. A flight from London to Berlin was diverted to Hamburg after the pilot cited drone activity.

Flights to Berlin from Stockholm, Antalya and Helsinki were also redirected, reports said.

Last month, drones were spotted over Munich, prompting authorities to shut down the airport twice in 24 hours. According to AP, nearly 20 flights were grounded, affecting almost 3,000 passengers. Around 15 arriving flights were diverted to other airports in Germany and Vienna in Austria.

In the past two months, airports in Denmark, Norway, and Poland have suspended flights due to drone sightings over the airspace.

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