Flights briefly halted at Munich Airport over possible drone sighting

Flights were halted for about an hour at Munich Airport in southern Germany on Saturday morning after two pilots reported seeing a drone, airport authorities and police said, confirming initial reports by German media.

During the shutdown more than 20 flights that had been due to land at Munich were diverted to other airports, an airport spokesperson said.

At around 9:00 AM (0700 GMT), two pilots in separate planes on the tarmac reported seeing a drone over the airport, prompting the shutdown, they said.

Flights resumed about an hour later.

"Extensive police operations, including a search of the affected area by police helicopter, yielded no results," a police spokesperson said.

"Since a threat to air traffic could be ruled out, the shutdown was lifted at 10:05 AM," they said, adding that an investigation had been opened to determine what happened.

Drone sightings at Munich caused greater disruption in October of last year, when they forced several shutdowns at the airport in quick succession.