Drones, second night of closure for Munich Airport
Dozens of flights were cancelled, postponed or diverted to other airports. At least 6,500 passengers were affected. A gradual reopening is planned
Key points
from our correspondent
NEW DELHI - Munich International Airport suspended its operations for the second consecutive night after a series of new drone sightings near the airport. Authorities reported that 23 flights have been diverted and another 60 - 12 arriving and 48 departing - are delayed or cancelled. At least 6,500 passengers are affected. As of 7 a.m. this morning, the airport reopened to air traffic. The airport warns travellers that there will still be delays and slowdowns throughout the day.
The closure of the two runways between Friday and Saturday followed the one on the night between Thursday and Friday, when incoming and outgoing traffic was suspended for about seven hours. On that occasion dozens of flights were cancelled or diverted to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Frankfurt and Vienna, while around 3,000 passengers were forced to revise their travel plans.
On Friday morning, a police spokesman told the Bild newspaper that due to the darkness it was not possible to determine the size and characteristics of the suspect aircraft with certainty. The first sighting led to the slowdown of air traffic at 10.18pm local time on Thursday and shortly afterwards the suspension was complete. The reopening of the hub took place around 5am on Friday, with the first flight arriving from Bangkok at 5.25am and the first take-off at 5.50am. Overall, 17 outbound flights were cancelled on the first night of the blockade, and 15 were diverted elsewhere. Some of them spent the night at the airport after the airport authorities provided blankets, cots and basic necessities.
The second blockade was triggered on Friday evening and an initial attempt to reopen the airport on Saturday morning was thwarted by the presence of other drones near the runways.
