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Flights at Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport (codenamed BER) were suspended for about two hours late Friday after a drone was spotted in its airspace. A spokesperson for the airport confirmed this to German media.
A witness reported seeing a drone flying around 8pm local time. Police then dispatched several paramedics and a helicopter. The northern runway was initially closed. Brandenburg police said a patrol car crew also confirmed the sighting. The unidentified aircraft’s trail then disappeared.
Further tips led the Federal Aviation Administration to become involved in the investigation. Police helicopters remained in operation late into the night.
Neighboring Belgium is also investigating drones seen over Kleine Brogel Air Base, home to recently acquired US-made F-35 fighter jets.
Several aircraft diverted
All BER operations were suspended from 8pm until just before 10pm. Several arriving aircraft were forced to change course. Four landed in Dresden, four in Leipzig and the remaining three in Hamburg.
The affected flights arrived from popular destinations such as Stockholm, Antalya and Helsinki.
Berlin Airport received special permission for takeoffs and landings to deal with the holdup situation. Aircraft were allowed to take off until about 1 a.m. and land until 4 a.m. This is an exception to the normal night flight ban from midnight to 5 a.m.
“Airport operations started as normal this morning,” an airport spokesperson told German media on Saturday. “There are no more restrictions on travelers,” they added.
“A wake-up call from the perspective of security policy”
Airport association ADV called for disciplinary action for Friday night’s violations. ADV managing director Ralph Beisel said the several-hour closure of the capital’s airport was a “wake-up call from a security policy perspective.”
“If takeoffs and landings are suspended and large numbers of aircraft have to be diverted to other airports, it not only disrupts operations but also undermines passenger confidence in the safety of air traffic.”
Beisel emphasized that nations need to significantly improve drone detection and defense.
“Airports cannot be left alone here. Drone detection and defense is a sovereign mission of nations and must be addressed comprehensively and consistently,” he pointed out.
Not an isolated case in BER
Drone overflights are no longer unusual in German airspace. According to German Air Traffic Control (DFS), five incidents of drone interference have already been recorded at Berlin Airport this year. In 2023, there will be more than 15 cases, and in 2022, there will be 20 cases.
DFS has observed a total of 144 incidents across Germany so far this year, 35 of which occurred near Frankfurt Airport alone.
Unidentified drones are most often seen over airports, but also on military installations and on transport routes. It is not yet clear how many of these incidents are the result of targeted espionage.
Most observations are made by pilots or spotted by air traffic controllers. DFS said in a recent interview with Euronews that around 90% of reported incidents occur near large airports.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of Germany’s Christian Socialist Union (CSU) has announced plans to accelerate drone defense across Germany.
The goal is to pool expertise between federal and state governments, develop new defense technologies, and bring police and military systems closer together.
