What happened
On the evening of Friday, 3 October, German air navigation service DFS suspended flights at Munich Airport for the second time in less than 24 hours due to reports of drones. Both runways were temporarily closed, flights were delayed, and some were cancelled or diverted, the airport administration and media reported.
Scale of disruption
During the second incident, dozens of schedule deviations were recorded: 23 planes had to be diverted to other airfields, 12 arrivals and 48 departures were cancelled, and a total of 6,500 passengers were affected. This followed the evening disruption the day before, when at least 17 flights were cancelled and 15 arrivals were diverted to other cities.
When the work resumed
The morning start of flights on Saturday, 4 October, was delayed, but the airport announced a phased resumption of operations at around 07:00 local time.
What the airport and police say
Official reports from the airport confirm that the decision to suspend flights was made as a precautionary measure due to unconfirmed but repeated reports of drones in the airport area. The Federal Police are checking the nature of the objects and coordinating with the DFS.
Context: a wave of incidents in Europe
Similar reports of drones have been received in recent days from other EU countries and near critical infrastructure. The German government has announced that it will accelerate decisions to detect and neutralise drones, particularly at airports.
What passengers should do
Check the flight status with the airline and on the airport board, allow extra time for travel and transfers, and monitor official Munich airport channels for possible spot delays throughout the day.
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