Infrastructure & Transport
Hanover Airport runways close for 90 minutes over drone
Hanover Airport runways were closed for 90 minutes early Tuesday, August 11, after a drone overflight, airport officials and police said.
An airport spokeswoman said normal operations later resumed at the airport north of Hanover. Six flights, including departures to Turkey, Egypt, Greece and Spain, were delayed by 15 to 50 minutes, and a cargo plane from Paris was diverted to Nuremberg Airport.
A local police spokeswoman said the Hanover Central Criminal Investigation Department had taken over the investigation into the drone overflight at Langenhagen Airport.
Der Spiegel first reported the incident, citing an internal police report that said “the possibility of a hybrid activity cannot be excluded”. The magazine reported that the drone went undetected by authorities and airport staff and flew freely for about two hours.
Der Spiegel also reported that the police document said it was “currently impossible” to link the Hanover incident to an explosives-laden drone found at Leipzig Airport last week.
After the Leipzig discovery, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt warned of “a new dimension of threat” and mentioned a possible “hybrid attack scenario”, without blaming anyone or any state.
Uncertainty notes
Authorities have not said who operated the drone over Hanover Airport or why it was there.
Any connection between the Hanover incident and the Leipzig drone discovery has not been established.
The possibility of hybrid activity was reported by Der Spiegel from an internal police document and has not been confirmed as a conclusion.
Source
AFP news report published on .