Drone sighting briefly closes Berlin Brandenburg Airport’s runways. Controllers recorded 28 drones there in the first half of 2026.

Source: Die Zeit

Berlin Brandenburg Airport briefly suspended operations after a drone was spotted nearby, German news agency dpa reported.

The drone was spotted at 8 p.m. local time (9 p.m. Moscow time). Germany’s air traffic control agency, DFS, closed the northern runway, then the southern runway. The restrictions were lifted at 9:05 p.m.

According to dpa, Berlin Brandenburg has more drone sightings than any other German airport. Air traffic controllers recorded 28 drones in the first six months of 2026. Because of the drones, the airport had to suspend arrivals and departures on seven occasions.

In all of 2025, only eight drones were recorded at the airport and in the surrounding area.

In August 2026, a drone carrying explosives was found at Leipzig Airport near a Ukrainian An-124 transport plane carrying ammunition. It later emerged that there had been several drones. On September 1, German authorities formally accused Russia of attempting sabotage at the airport. Moscow denies the allegations.

At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.

If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.

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Drone sighting briefly closes Berlin Brandenburg Airport’s runways. Controllers recorded 28 drones there in the first half of 2026.

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