Flights resume at Luxembourg Airport after drone activity

Luxembourg Airport resumed flight operations early Saturday after it was temporarily closed following sightings of unauthorized drones, with Prime Minister Luc Frieden saying authorities were taking the incidents “very seriously” but had no information on their origin, according to Luxembourg-based business publication Paperjam.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to panic, but we must take the situation seriously,” Frieden said after a meeting of the government’s coordination unit.

Frieden said large drones had been spotted over Luxembourg in recent days, with their presence near the airport overnight from Friday to Saturday prompting a temporary suspension of operations under safety procedures.

No drones have been intercepted or neutralized, and authorities have not recovered any of the aircraft, according to the government.

Interior Minister Leon Gloden said police had attempted to detect the drones using their own resources after receiving reports from the public.

Authorities have not specified the number, model or flight paths of the drones, and have not determined whether they were armed, Gloden said.

“All this is mere speculation; we cannot confirm it at this stage,” he said.

Frieden also said it was too early to attribute the drone activity to Russia or any other state actor, calling such a conclusion “pure speculation” at this stage.

The government has been in contact with neighboring countries, allies and NATO regarding the incidents.

The police, armed forces, aviation authorities and other agencies are working under the coordination of Luxembourg’s High Commission for National Protection, while an assessment unit responsible for drones has met several times this week, according to the government.

Mobility Minister Yuriko Backes said Luxembourg needed to strengthen its drone-detection capabilities and protect public infrastructure, particularly the control tower at Findel Airport.

She said the possibility that the purpose of the overflights could be to disrupt air traffic and cause public concern could not be ruled out, but declined to confirm the theory.

Luxair CEO Gilles Feith said air traffic control informed the airline of the drone activity at around 10.10 pm Friday, when 17 of its aircraft were airborne.

The aircraft were diverted to Cologne, Brussels, Frankfurt, Liege, Paris, Basel and Strasbourg.

Luxair was able to return 11 aircraft after about an hour, while six remained at the diversion airports.

By Saturday morning, two had returned to Luxembourg, a third was en route and the remaining three were expected to return before midday, Feith told RTL.

The 17 aircraft referred only to Luxair flights, while RTL reported a total of 19 diverted flights. One Ryanair flight was able to depart late Friday night, while EasyJet canceled its departure, according to the report.

Backes said air traffic at Findel had returned to normal by Saturday morning, although the overnight diversions continued to affect Luxair’s schedule.

Flightradar24 said Friday that operations at Luxembourg Airport had been suspended due to unmanned aircraft system (UAS) activity, with no arrivals or departures allowed.

Citing an airport notice, the flight-tracking platform said the suspension began at 2049GMT and was initially estimated to last until 2200GMT.

Luxembourg authorities had not commented on the incident when the initial suspension began.