AI-generated summary
Drones near airports pose a safety risk to air traffic and can lead to flight operations being suspended.
Due to a drone sighting at the Berlin-Brandenburg capital airport (BER), flight operations there were completely stopped for 45 minutes. The blocking has now been lifted, spokeswomen from BER and the Federal Police told dpa.
A drone was spotted at 8 p.m. The German air traffic control then initially closed the north runway for take-offs and landings, and then also the south runway at 8:20 p.m. The closure was lifted again at 9:05 p.m. The “Bild” newspaper had previously reported.
At no other German airport were as many drones spotted in the first half of the year as at the capital airport BER. The tower in Schönefeld registered 28 such flying objects in the first six months, as the German Air Traffic Control (DFS) announced upon request. That was one more sighting than in the same period at Germany's largest airport in Frankfurt am Main.
On Wednesday evening, the airspace at Berlin's BER airport was closed at 8:20 p.m. after a drone sighting around 8:00 p.m. Several flights were diverted. After 45 minutes the airspace was reopened. The federal police were unable to locate the drone. Such incidents have occurred repeatedly in Germany and Europe this year.
In the evening, flight operations were suspended for 45 minutes due to a drone sighting at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (BER). The lockdown was lifted at 9:05 p.m. There were delays and diversions. The federal police were unable to locate the drone. In the first half of the year, 28 drones were spotted at BER - more than at any other German airport. A drone prepared with explosives was recently discovered in Leipzig/Halle, for which the federal government blames Russia.
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