Flights in and out of Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport were briefly suspended on Wednesday evening, after a “luminous flying object” was spotted near a German Armed Forces helicopter hangar.
It is not the first time that the airport has been forced to shut down operations after a suspected drone sighting, with the airport forced to suspend flights for roughly two hours on one occasion late last year.
An airport spokesperson told the Tagesspiegel newspaper that flights were suspended when the object was spotted by air traffic control shortly before 7 p.m on Wednesday evening, with flights resuming less than half an hour later at 7:18 p.m.
However, an spokesperson said that “the suspicion was not substantiated,” with police unable to detect a drone or similar flying object in a search of the surrounding area.
Europe has been plagued by airspace violations since an incident on Sept. 10, 2025, when at least 19 Russian drones entered Polish airspace from Belarus.
In some cases, authorities have been able to point to Russia’s involvement with relative certainty – such as in the case of Russian fighter jets entering Lithuanian and Estonian airspace without authorization.
In others, drones of unidentified origin have grounded flights or appeared over sensitive infrastructure and military sites, with European leaders – including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz – saying they believe Russia is involved.
In October 2025, the appearance of multiple drones over Munich Airport halted flights twice in as many days, with similar incidents occurring at Germany’s Bremen Airport and over German military installations.
In October, Merz’s cabinet approved a law authorizing German police to shoot down unidentified drones in cases of “acute threat or serious harm.”