Munich Airport briefly halts departures after pilot reports suspicious sighting

Munich Airport temporarily halted departures on Sunday afternoon after a pilot reported seeing something suspicious, BR reported. Arrivals continued during the disruption.

The pilot of a scheduled flight to Brussels was already airborne shortly after 4 p.m. when he noticed the object or phenomenon outside the airport grounds, according to a spokesperson for Germany’s Federal Police. He informed the control tower, which then alerted security authorities.

German air navigation services subsequently stopped departing flights while state and federal police officers searched the surrounding area. They found nothing suspicious.

Departures resumed at 4:46 p.m. It was not immediately known how many flights were affected or what the pilot had seen. The Federal Police therefore explicitly said the incident was not being classified as a drone sighting.