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Drone Sighting Forces 45-Minute Shutdown at Berlin Airport
(MENAFN) German aviation authorities closed both runways at Berlin Brandenburg Airport for roughly 45 minutes on Wednesday evening after a drone was spotted hovering near the airport's north runway, triggering a cascade of flight diversions.
The disruption began just before 8 p.m. local time (1800 GMT), when ground staff first reported the unmanned aircraft. An airport spokesperson confirmed the timeline to reporters: "At 8 pm (1800GMT) there was a drone sighting on the north runway of the airport. At 8:20 pm the airspace over the airport was closed."
Airspace remained shut for nearly an hour before controllers cleared flights to resume at 9:05 p.m., the spokesperson said. Operations restarted immediately afterward, though arriving and departing aircraft faced lingering delays into the night.
The episode forced at least five inbound flights to be rerouted to Dresden and Leipzig rather than risk landing amid the unconfirmed threat. A spokeswoman for federal police told a German tabloid that several independent witnesses had reported spotting the drone near the airfield, lending weight to the initial sighting.
As of Wednesday night, investigators had not determined the drone's origin or intent — whether it was flown by a recreational hobbyist, launched as a deliberate incursion, or something else entirely.
The incident adds to a mounting pattern. According to DFS, Germany's air-navigation service, Berlin Brandenburg Airport recorded 28 drone sightings near its control tower in the first half of 2026 alone — more than triple the eight logged during all of 2025. Seven of those encounters forced authorities to halt operations outright. The airport's drone problem mirrors a broader trend across the country, with suspected unauthorized flights increasingly reported over German military installations and other critical infrastructure sites.
The disruption began just before 8 p.m. local time (1800 GMT), when ground staff first reported the unmanned aircraft. An airport spokesperson confirmed the timeline to reporters: "At 8 pm (1800GMT) there was a drone sighting on the north runway of the airport. At 8:20 pm the airspace over the airport was closed."
Airspace remained shut for nearly an hour before controllers cleared flights to resume at 9:05 p.m., the spokesperson said. Operations restarted immediately afterward, though arriving and departing aircraft faced lingering delays into the night.
The episode forced at least five inbound flights to be rerouted to Dresden and Leipzig rather than risk landing amid the unconfirmed threat. A spokeswoman for federal police told a German tabloid that several independent witnesses had reported spotting the drone near the airfield, lending weight to the initial sighting.
As of Wednesday night, investigators had not determined the drone's origin or intent — whether it was flown by a recreational hobbyist, launched as a deliberate incursion, or something else entirely.
The incident adds to a mounting pattern. According to DFS, Germany's air-navigation service, Berlin Brandenburg Airport recorded 28 drone sightings near its control tower in the first half of 2026 alone — more than triple the eight logged during all of 2025. Seven of those encounters forced authorities to halt operations outright. The airport's drone problem mirrors a broader trend across the country, with suspected unauthorized flights increasingly reported over German military installations and other critical infrastructure sites.
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