Another airport in Denmark has grounded all flights following the sighting of several drones in the airspace.
All arriving and departing aircrafts were halted at Aalborg Airport on Wednesday night, with inbound flights being diverted to other airports.
Nordjyllands Police reported on X that drones have been seen near Aalborg Airport, leading to the closure of the airspace. Officers are currently on site conducting investigations.
According to the police, multiple drones were found in the vicinity of the airport, though it’s unclear if they are the same ones that disrupted operations at Copenhagen Airport earlier in the week.
The purpose of the drones, which were flying with their lights on, remain unclear and it is unknown who was controlling them, police said.
Four flights including two SAS planes, one Norwegian and one KLM flight, were affected.
Eurocontrol, the European air traffic management body, announced that no flights will depart or arrive at Aalborg Airport until at least 4 a.m. on Thursday.
This incident follows previous disruptions at Copenhagen airport, where Danish police suggested that Russian entities might have orchestrated a drone swarm, affecting around 100 flights and impacting 20,000 passengers.
Police inspector Jens Jespersen suggested the incident had all the signs of a sophisticated operation.
An official noted that the characteristics observed—such as the number, size, and flight patterns of the drones—suggest the involvement of a sophisticated actor, though no specific party has been identified.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described the incident as “the most serious attack on Danish vital infrastructure to date,” and mentioned the possibility of Russian involvement.
In further hints that they believe Vladimir Putin was behind the previously spotted drones, authorities said the perpetrator was seeking to demonstrate certain abilities.
Police officers previously seen at Copenhagen Airport after all flights were diverted due to drone sightings
In a social media post, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky referred to ‘Russia’s violation’ of NATO airspace in Copenhagen. However, he did not indicate the source of his claim.
Meanwhile, Danish intelligence previously said the country is facing a ‘high threat of sabotage’ after the incident.
‘We are facing a high threat of sabotage in Denmark. Someone may not necessarily want to attack us, but rather stress us out and see how we react,’ Flemming Drejer, Director of Operations at Denmark’s intelligence service PET, told a press conference this week.
Sharing further details, Jespersen said that the drones had appeared from several different directions, turning their lights on and off before finally disappearing after several hours.
Police are examining multiple theories about where the drones came from, including the possibility that they were launched from ships. Denmark’s main airport sits close to a busy shipping lane used by vessels entering and leaving the Baltic Sea.
On Tuesday, Russia broke its silence to deny any involvement.
Flights at Copenhagen were either diverted or grounded for hours on Monday evening after multiple large drones were seen above the runways.
At least 35 flights were ordered to other sites, including Malmo and Gothenburg, Sweden, and Billund, Aalborg, and Aarhus, Denmark.
Later in the evening, Oslo Airport in Norway was also forced to close and divert its planes after drones were spotted in the vicinity.
Authorities in Denmark diverted 31 flights to other airports, causing ripple effects that delayed or cancelled around 100 flights and affected some 20,000 passengers, a spokesperson told reporters. The airport finally reopened in the early hours of Tuesday.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
