Copenhagen and Oslo airport reopens after drone sightings, raising security fears following Russian drone incursion in Poland

Copenhagen Airport, the busiest in the Nordic region, reopened early Tuesday(September 23) after being closed for nearly four hours on Monday night following sightings of “2-3 large drones” in the airspace, grounding takeoffs and landings and forcing dozens of flights to divert, authorities said. "The police have launched an intensive investigation to determine what kind of drones these are," Copenhagen Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jakob Hansen told reporters. "The drones have disappeared and we have not taken any of them," he added.

What happened

Police reported that two or three large drones were spotted flying near Copenhagen Airport, prompting a full shutdown of traffic at 8:26 pm local time on Monday. Oslo Airport also shut its airspace from midnight local time after a separate drone sighting, with Norwegian airport operator Avinor confirming that all flights were diverted, while Copenhagen Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jakob Hansen said Danish and Norwegian authorities would cooperate to determine whether the incidents were connected.


FlightRadar reported that more than 35 flights were redirected, stating that around 50 flights were diverted to alternate airports while operations were suspended. Passengers were left waiting in terminals or rerouted to nearby airports across the Nordic region. Copenhagen Airport warned travelers to check with their airlines for updated schedules.

String of disruptions

Last Friday, a cyberattack disabled check-in and boarding systems provided by Collins Aerospace, a unit of RTX, disrupting operations at major hubs including London’s Heathrow as well as the airports in Berlin and Brussels. The effects rippled through the weekend and into Monday, compounding travel delays across Europe.

The incident recalled 2018, when drone sightings near London’s Gatwick Airport brought holiday travel to a standstill, stranding tens of thousands of passengers and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

The closures come amid heightened security concerns across northern Europe after recent episodes of airspace incursions, including reported Russian drones entering Polish territory as well as other drone activity and fighter-jet violations in NATO countries.