Journey disruption for 1000’s after thriller drones closed two of Scandinavia’s busiest airports

Two of Scandinavia’s busiest airports – Oslo and Copenhagen – have been pressured to shut for a number of hours as a result of drone sightings in a single day into Tuesday, disrupting the journey plans of tens of 1000’s of individuals.

The airspace over Denmark’s Copenhagen Airport was closed for nearly 4 hours on Monday evening after two to 3 giant “unidentified” drones have been noticed within the space. No flights have been allowed to take off or land.

“We have concluded that this was what we would call a capable operator,” Danish police Chief Superintendent Jens Jespersen informed reporters on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

The drones got here from a number of totally different instructions, turning their lights on and off, earlier than ultimately disappearing after a number of hours, Jespersen mentioned.

“It’s an actor who has the capabilities, the will and the tools to show off in this way,” he mentioned, including that no suspects have but been recognized.

Copenhagen airport, which serves practically 30 million individuals every year, reopened round 12:20 a.m. native time (6:20 p.m. ET) however some delays and cancellations have been nonetheless anticipated, an airport spokesperson mentioned early Tuesday.

Earlier, arriving flights have been redirected to different airports in Denmark, whereas some have been despatched to Gothenburg and Malmö in Sweden, in response to the airport.

In Norway, the airspace over Oslo Airport was closed for round three hours Tuesday morning as a result of a separate drone sighting. “This means that incoming flights are now being redirected to the nearest airport,” Communication Manager Monica Iren Fasting informed CNN.

Police have been investigating the incident, she added.

Oslo Airport reopened round 3:22 a.m. native time (8:22 p.m. ET), Reuters reported, citing a spokesperson for Norwegian airport operator Avinor.

In an earlier incident in Oslo on Monday, Police arrested two international nationals for flying drones over a restricted space. Norwegian media reported the drones have been flown over the Akershus Fortress, a medieval citadel that’s generally used for presidency occasions. There was no fast indication it was linked to the occasions on the airport or in Copenhagen.

Europe has been on alert since Russian drones violated each Polish and Romanian airspace earlier this month – prompting NATO allies to pledge to beef up defenses on the bloc’s japanese flank. There is presently no indication that Monday’s drone actions in Denmark and Norway are linked to these incidents involving Russia.

This story has been up to date.