Drone sighting briefly halts flights at Berlin Brandenburg Airport
A drone sighting forced Berlin Brandenburg Airport to briefly suspend arrivals and departures. The airport has recorded 28 drones so far this year, far more than in all of 2025.
Berlin Brandenburg Airport briefly halted flight operations on Wednesday evening after a drone was spotted nearby, German news agency dpa reported.
The drone was seen around 8 p.m. local time. Germany's air traffic control agency, DFS, closed the northern runway first, followed by the southern runway. Restrictions were lifted at 9:05 p.m., allowing normal operations to resume.
Germany's most drone-affected airport
According to dpa, Berlin Brandenburg records more drone sightings than any other airport in Germany. Air traffic controllers logged 28 drones near the airport in the first six months of 2026 alone, forcing the suspension of arrivals and departures on seven separate occasions.
By comparison, only eight drones were recorded at the airport and its surrounding area during the entirety of 2025 — a sharp increase in incidents this year.
Part of a wider pattern
In August 2026, a drone carrying explosives was discovered at Leipzig Airport near a Ukrainian An-124 cargo plane that was transporting ammunition. It later emerged that multiple drones had been involved. On September 1, German authorities formally accused Russia of attempting sabotage at the Leipzig airport. Moscow has denied the allegations.
