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Denmark’s Aalborg airport was closed for hours due to drones in its airspace, local police said early on Thursday, two days after the country’s main Copenhagen airport was shut over drone sightings that rattled European aviation.
Danish national police said the drones followed a similar pattern to the ones that had halted flights at Copenhagen airport for four hours a few days earlier. The country’s armed forces were also affected, as Aalborg airport is used as a military base, they added.
Danish police verified drone activity also occurred on Wednesday evening at Esbjerg, Sønderborg and Skrydstrup airports in a statement and posts on X early on Thursday morning, though they were not closed.
In an update after midnight, the country’s police commissioner, Chief Police Inspector Jesper Bøjgaard Madsen, said attempts would be made to “take down” the drones.
In a second statement Danish policesaid the latest confirmed sighting of an active drone was at 12.54am Thursday morning in the airspace near Aalborg Airport.
“We have not succeeded in taking down the drones themselves,” police said.
Denmark said on Tuesday the incident at Copenhagen airport was the most serious attack yet on its critical infrastructure and linked it to a series of suspected Russian drone incursions and other disruptions across Europe.
Authorities in Norway also shut the airspace at Oslo airport for three hours on Monday evening after a drone was seen.
Northern Jutland police told reporters that “more than one drone” had been sighted near Aalborg airport and they were flying with lights on.
The drones were first sighted at about 9.44 pm local time on Wednesday, according to police, and remained in the airspace at the time of the press briefing at 12.05 am on Thursday.
Northern Jutland police said they could not specify the type of drones or whether they were the same as the ones flying over Copenhagen airport on Monday.
“It is too early to say what the goal of the drones is and who is the actor behind,” a police official said.
Norwegian and Danish authorities are in close contact over the Copenhagen and Oslo incidents on Monday but their investigation has not yet established a connection, Norway’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Eurocontrol, which oversees European air traffic control, said arrivals and departures at Aalborg airport would be at a “zero rate” until 0400 GMT on Thursday due to drone activity in the vicinity.
Police said they were investigating further on site in collaboration with the national security agency and Danish Armed forces, and there was no danger to passengers at the airport or residents in the area.
They added that three flights had been diverted to other airports.
The police commissioner encouraged witnesses to document suspicious drone activity in the highest resolution possible and asked those with relevant information to contact the authorities.
Police said there is “nothing that prevents air traffic from being resumed” and urged passengers to stay up to date with the relevant airline’s website and communications.
With Reuters and Agence France-Presse
