Flights halted after drone sighting near Gothenburg airport in Sweden

STOCKHOLM - Several flights were cancelled or redirected after a drone sighting caused traffic to be stopped for several hours at Gothenburg’s Landvetter airport in western Sweden on Nov 6, authorities and the airport operator said.

Mr Bjorn Stavas, a spokesman for Sweden’s air traffic control LFV, said traffic had been stopped following “drone” observation shortly before 6pm (1am on Nov 7 in Singapore).

Mr Stavas said it was not known to them whether the observation was of one or multiple drones.

Ms Susanne Norman, chief operating officer of Swedish airport operator Swedavia, confirmed that the airspace remained closed in a written statement to AFP just before 7pm.

Ms Norman later said that police said that the incident had ended and that they were planning to restart traffic.

Just after 9.30pm, the airport said on its webpage that traffic had resumed, but also showed that several flights had either been cancelled, delayed or redirected as a result of the closure.

Earlier this week,

drone sightings at the main airport in Brussels

led to some 80 flights being halted.

This week’s interruptions also come after a recent spate of mysterious drone incidents targeting airports and sensitive military locations in several European countries, including Germany and Denmark.

Suspicions have swirled over

potential Russian involvement

in increased drone activity across Europe, with tension high as the war in Ukraine drags through its fourth year. AFP