Germany’s Munich airport has reopened after authorities shut it down the previous night for the second time in less than 24 hours after more suspected drone sightings.
According to Al Jazeera, the airport, one of Germany’s largest, reopened gradually from 7am local time (05:00 GMT) on Saturday.
Forty-six departures from the airport had to be cancelled or delayed until Saturday, affecting 6,500 passengers.
Munich airport said that on Friday, “from 9:30 pm air traffic was restricted and then cancelled due to drone sightings”, meaning 23 incoming flights were diverted and 12 bound for Munich were cancelled, leaving nearly 3,000 passengers stranded.
A police spokesman told the AFP news agency that there were “two simultaneous confirmed drone sightings by police patrols just before 11pm around the north and south runways”.
“The drones immediately moved away, before they could be identified,” he added.
Authorities were not immediately able to provide any information about who was responsible for the overflights.
Airports in Denmark, Norway and Poland have recently suspended flights due to unidentified drones, while Romania and Estonia have pointed the finger at Russia for drone incursions on their territory. Drones were also spotted overnight in Belgium above a military base.
Some experts have noted, however, that anybody with drones could be behind them.
Earlier on Friday, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told newspaper Bild that the first night’s incident was a “wake-up call” on the threat from drones, adding that “more financing and research” on the issue was urgently needed at the national and European levels.
