By Owen Evans
Drone sightings on Sept. 22 forced authorities in Denmark and Norway to close their main airports in Copenhagen and Oslo for several hours overnight. Both airports have since reopened.
Copenhagen Police told The Epoch Times by email that since Monday evening, it has “been conducting an intensive investigation regarding the presence of unidentified drones over Copenhagen Airport.”
“There were several larger drones coming from different directions, and they also left the airspace over and around the airport in various directions,” Copenhagen Police said. “It is still too early to say where the drones came from, but based on the drones’ flight patterns, the Copenhagen Police assess that one or more so-called ‘capable actors’ are behind the drone flights.”
After it reopened early on Tuesday, Copenhagen Airport said on X that some flights are delayed and urged passengers to check with their airlines.
The airspace at Oslo airport in Norway was reopened by 3:22 a.m. local time, a spokesperson for Norwegian airport operator Avinor said in a statement.
In a Sept. 23 post on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that during a meeting with the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, in New York, they “devoted special attention to Russia’s violations of the airspace of NATO member states, including on September 22 in Copenhagen.”
When asked about this, Danish police Chief Superintendent Jens Jespersen said: “I can’t say anything about that. It’s not because I don’t want to, it’s because I simply don’t know.”
The airport shutdowns came after a string of disruptions at European airports in recent days.
A cyberattack began on the evening of Sept. 19, causing disruption at major international hubs including Brussels, Berlin Brandenburg, and London Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport. Responsibility for that attack remains unknown.
Terror law watchdog Jonathan Hall KC said on Monday it was possible state-sponsored hackers could be behind the attack on Collins Aerospace, which operates check-in and boarding systems.
On Monday, passengers at Heathrow were told they could face another day of disruption after the cyberattack. Flights were canceled or delayed as the impacted airlines had to carry out check-in and boarding operations manually.
“Work continues to resolve and recover from the outage of a Collins Aerospace airline system that impacted check-in,” Heathrow Airport said in a Sept. 22 statement on X. “We apologise to those who have faced delays, but by working together with airlines, the vast majority of flights have continued to operate.”
Brussels Airport, which may have been hit the hardest, continued to experience disruptions on Sept. 22. The airport asked airlines to cancel almost 140 outbound flights, about half of the 276 flights that were scheduled to depart from Brussels that day.
Law enforcement agencies are continuing to investigate.
Speculation from some quarters that Russia might have been responsible followed increased concern over aviation safety in Europe after recent incursions, allegedly by Russian drones, into Polish airspace.
No evidence that Russia was responsible has been reported at this point.
U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo on Sept. 12 told ambassadors in the U.N. Security Council that the United Nations had no way of verifying any claims or counterclaims surrounding the incident and could only rely on publicly available information.
Most recent hacks, including a major attack on British retailer M&S in April, have been attributed to criminal gangs looking to extort large sums of money from major corporations.
The Epoch Times has contacted Norwegian airport operator Avinor for comment.
Rachel Roberts, Reuters, and PA Media contributed to this report.
