Air traffic at Eindhoven Airport in the Netherlands was brought to a complete standstill on Saturday after the sighting of multiple unauthorised drones in the vicinity, causing significant disruption.
Military and Police Response
Dutch Minister of Defence, Ruben Brekelmans, confirmed the incident on social media platform X, stating that the country's police and military were immediately deployed to the site. He announced that defence counter-drone measures were ready to intervene to address the threat to aviation safety.
The airport, located in the south of the country and used for both military and civilian purposes, halted all types of air traffic as a precautionary measure. This suspension was a direct response to the potential collision risk posed by the unmanned aircraft.
Flights Resume After Investigation
The disruption lasted for a period on Saturday evening, with the defence minister announcing just after 10pm UK time that flights had been cleared to resume. Despite the resumption of services, an investigation into the incident remains ongoing, and authorities have stated it is still not known where the drones originated from.
This event follows a similar incident on Friday evening, where the Dutch military used weapons against drones sighted above the air force base in Volkel, approximately 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Eindhoven.
A Wider European Concern
The incident at Eindhoven is not an isolated one. Various airports across Europe were forced to temporarily close in September due to drone sightings, including facilities in Denmark and Norway.
This pattern of airspace incursions has raised security concerns across the continent. Earlier in September, Russian drones were intercepted flying over NATO member states Poland and Romania, while three Russian jets entered Estonian airspace without permission. These events are widely seen as attempts to test the military alliance's response capabilities amidst the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
When a drone is detected near an airport, a complete shutdown is not always mandatory, but it is standard procedure to halt incoming and outgoing air traffic to prevent catastrophic collisions. The decision to close and for how long ultimately rests with the individual airport operator, though the knock-on effects for passengers in terms of delays and cancellations are often substantial.
