Drone sightings disrupt traffic at Eindhoven airport

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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Air traffic at Eindhoven airport in the south of the Netherlands was suspended for several hours on Saturday evening due to multiple drone sightings, Dutch defence minister Ruben Brekelmans said in a post on X.

Traffic resumed around 11 p.m. (2200 GMT), Brekelmans said, two hours after he had first reported the disruption.

“Defence has taken measures,” the minister said. “Out of security considerations no further information can be shared.”

The Dutch military on Friday evening had used weapons against drones sighted above the air force base in Volkel, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Eindhoven, the defence ministry had said earlier on Saturday.

Eindhoven serves both as a civilian and as a military airport. All types of air traffic were suspended, Brekelmans said.

Asked if it was clear where the drones had come from, the defence ministry had no additional comment.

Drones and other airspace incursions have caused considerable disruption across Europe in recent months.

In September, more than 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace and three Russian military jets violated Estonia’s airspace for 12 minutes.

Since then, many drone flights, the origins of which are mostly unknown, have disrupted airspace operations in Europe.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called the incursions “hybrid warfare.”

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Additional reporting by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Chris Reese)