On the evening of September 22, Copenhagen Airport (denmark) - considered the busiest airport in Northern Europe - had to temporarily suspend all take-off and landing activities after radar and witnesses discovered 2-3 drones flying near the runway area.
Danish police confirmed that the airport was closed at 20:26 (local time), affecting about 50 flights, many of which had to switch to other airports. We have opened an urgent investigation. These drones left the area before being seized, said police chief Jakob Hansen.
The interruption lasted nearly 4 hours, forcing thousands of passengers to be trapped in the terminal. Copenhagen Airport reopened in the early morning of September 23, but authorities have warned that flight delays and cancellations will continue.
At the same time, Norway's Oslo airport was also forced to temporarily close its airspace from midnight after a drone was spotted flying near the area. All flights have been moved to neighboring airports. Norwegian authorities said they have worked with police to verify the origin of the incident.
To date, no individual or organization has come forward to take responsibility. Security services from both Denmark and Norway said they will work with the investigation to determine whether the two incidents that occurred at the same time are related.
The incident raised serious concerns about aviation security in Europe, which has just experienced a chaotic week after a cyber attack on Collins Aerospace's system paralyzed many large airports in London, Berlin and Brussels.
This is not the first time UAVs have paralyzed European airports. In 2018, a series of flights in Gatwick in the UK were canceled or delayed after UAVs were spotted traveling around the runway, affecting more than 140,000 passengers.
Danish and Norwegian authorities said they will strengthen aviation security supervision and consider implementing modern UAVs to prevent similar situations from recurring.
