Unidentified drones force temporary closure of Copenhagen, Oslo airports

ISTANBUL

Copenhagen and Oslo airports were forced to temporarily close on Monday evening after multiple sightings of unidentified drones in their airspace, authorities said.

Copenhagen police said “three or four large drones” were observed near the Danish capital’s airport around 8.30 pm (1930 GMT) local time.

“The airspace above Copenhagen Airport has been closed since 8:30 p.m. due to the presence of two or three unidentified drones. No aircraft can take off or land at the airport,” airport spokesperson Lise Agerley Kurstein said.

“The drones appeared to be coming from different directions,” police official Jens Jespersen told reporters, the Danish Ritzau news agency reported.

Airport management confirmed that the incident disrupted the travel of nearly 20,000 passengers, with 31 flights diverted and another 100 canceled.

“This constitutes the most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Tuesday, adding that the incident highlighted “the times we live in and what we as a society must be prepared for.”

Frederiksen linked the drone incursion to “developments we have seen recently with other drone attacks, airspace violations, and cyberattacks against European airports,” citing similar incidents in Poland, Romania, and the alleged incursion of Russian fighter jets into Estonian airspace.

Denmark’s intelligence services (PET) described the situation as a “significant sabotage threat.”

“We are facing a significant sabotage threat in Denmark. They may not be coming to attack us, but to stress us and see how we react,” PET operations director Flemming Drejer said at a press conference.

In Norway, Oslo Airport also halted operations for several hours after two separate drone sightings.

“We have made two separate drone sightings,” Monica Fasting, a spokeswoman for Oslo Airport, confirmed Tuesday morning, adding that the airport reopened at 3.15 am local time.

The closures forced several flights to be diverted, while departing services faced long delays and cancellations.

Both airports warned that disruptions would continue through Tuesday as traffic gradually returned to normal.

Danish police official Jakob Hansen said security forces, military, and intelligence services were working jointly with Norwegian authorities to determine the origin of the drones.

“At this stage, we do not know” if the drones could be linked to Russia, Hansen said.

The drone sightings follow a series of recent airspace violations in Europe.

On Sept. 10, a suspected Russian drone strike hit Polish territory, prompting NATO to deploy fighter jets. Similar accusations were made by Romania and Estonia.