Flights were suspended for almost two hours at Berlin Brandenburg Airport on Friday after sightings of unidentified drones, the latest in a series of similar scares across Europe, an airport spokesman told AFP. Take-offs and landings were suspended between 8:08 pm (1908 GMT) and 9:58 pm and a “whole series of flights” were diverted to other German cities during the closure, the spokesman said. Berlin’s ban on night flights was also relaxed to mitigate the impact on flight operations, he added. “We assume that the danger has been averted for the time being,” the spokesman said. Police in Brandenburg state confirmed they had received a report of a drone sighting and said a patrol car and a helicopter had been deployed. The patrol car had spotted a drone but its pilot had not been identified, a spokesman said. The drone incursions over Germany are more serious, with swarms of unknown drones sighted over critical infrastructure as well as military facilities. German leaders had repeatedly raised the alarm about a growing drone threat after a series of sightings of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at airports as well as sensitive military sites this year. Airports in Denmark, Norway and Poland had also recently suspended flights due to unidentified drones, while Romania and Estonia had pointed the finger at Russia, which had brushed off the allegations. Germany – a major NATO backer of Ukraine in its fight against Russia – had similarly blamed Moscow. Multiple UAV sightings had been reported in recent months over military bases, industrial sites and other critical infrastructure in Germany. In early October, drones spotted over the southern city of Munich twice shut down the city’s airport, grounding thousands of passengers after their flights were cancelled or re-routed. Interior minister Alexander Dobrindt had called for Germany to “find new responses to this hybrid threat” – including greater capabilities to detect, assess and potentially shoot down drones.
