Denmark on alert after drone activity reported at multiple airports

On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchAnother airport in Denmark has been closed due to drones, just two days after the country’s main hub was shut over sightings that rattled European aviation.Police wrote on X that drones had been observed near Aalborg airport, in the north of the country, and they were investigating further. Drones were also spotted at three smaller airports in the region, Esbjerg, Sønderborg and Skrydstrup, none of which were closed as a result.A spokesperson for Aalborg airport declined to comment on the number of drones in question.Danish national police said the drones followed a similar pattern to the ones that had halted flights at Copenhagen airport for four hours on Monday. The country’s armed forces were also affected, as Aalborg airport is used as a military base, they added.open image in galleryPolice officers stood guard following drone reports at the airport in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Monday (Ritzau Scanpix)Four flights were affected, the police spokesperson said, including two SAS planes, one Norwegian and one KLM flight.Eurocontrol, which oversees European air traffic control, said arrivals and departures at Aalborg airport would be at a “zero rate” until 4am GMT on Thursday due to drone activity in the vicinity.Danish authorities said the drones that halted flights at Copenhagen airport for four hours were the most serious attack yet on its critical infrastructure.Speaking in New York during the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said she “could not rule out” Russian involvement in the shutdown of Copenhagen airport. “We have seen drones over Poland that should not have been there. We have seen activity in Romania. We have seen violations of Estonian airspace,” Ms Frederiksen told reporters. “This is a serious attack on critical Danish infrastructure.”open image in galleryDanish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said she ‘could not rule out’ Russian involvement in the shutdown of Copenhagen airport (Reuters)Authorities in Norway also shut the airspace at Oslo airport for three hours on Monday evening after a drone was seen.Norwegian and Danish authorities are in close contact over the Copenhagen and Oslo incidents but they have not yet been linked, Norway’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.Oslo authorities announced later that two foreign nationals had been arrested for flying drones within the prohibited zone near the airport.Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky then appeared to blame Russia for the incident in a post on social media, though that claim was quickly taken down. It comes after hundreds of flights were affected at Heathrow airport in the UK over the weekend following a cyber attack.



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