Drone disrupts operations at Germany’s Hanover Airport

Runways closed for 90 minutes as police investigate incident amid heightened concerns over airport security

Operations at Hanover Airport in Germany were disrupted early Tuesday after a drone was detected in the area, police said, with authorities launching an investigation into the incident.

The drone was spotted over Langenhagen Airport, north of Hanover, prompting the closure of the airport’s runways for around 90 minutes before normal operations resumed, an airport spokeswoman told AFP.

Six flights, including services to Turkey, Egypt, Greece and Spain, were delayed by between 15 and 50 minutes. A cargo aircraft arriving from Paris was also diverted to Nuremberg Airport.

The Hanover Central Criminal Investigation Department has taken over the investigation, according to local police.

German weekly Der Spiegel reported that an internal police report did not rule out the possibility of a “hybrid activity”, noting that the drone reportedly went undetected by authorities and airport staff and flew over the area for around two hours.

German authorities use the term “hybrid attack” to refer to a broad range of activities, including sabotage, espionage and propaganda operations. Such incidents have increased since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and have frequently been attributed to Russia.

However, police said it is currently impossible to establish a connection between the Hanover incident and an explosives-laden drone discovered at Leipzig Airport the previous week.

Following the Leipzig incident, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt warned of what he described as a “new dimension of threat”, while referring to the possibility of a hybrid attack scenario without attributing responsibility to any particular country.

The latest incident comes as Germany continues to strengthen its security posture following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and remains one of Ukraine’s leading military supporters in Europe.