Danish police: Drone flight over Copenhagen Airport appears to be a display, not an attack

Danish police said a skilled drone pilot flew two to three large unidentified drones over Copenhagen Airport on Monday night, shutting down the airspace for hours as the unknown operator appeared to be displaying capabilities over Scandinavia’s largest airport. Officials described the operator as a capable actor who seemed intent on showing off the drones’ abilities rather than planning harm. There were no immediate signs of intent to cause harm, authorities added during a briefing.

The drones’ lights flickered on and off and they executed a range of flight patterns as investigators weighed whether to shoot them down. Given the airport’s high passenger volume, the presence of planes on runways and nearby fuel depots, authorities chose not to engage with force, citing risk to people on the ground. “The person is a capable actor,” said Jes Jespersen, senior police inspector of the Copenhagen Police, noting the incident appeared to be about display and practice rather than an attack.

The drones disappeared after several hours. Flights at the airport resumed early Tuesday, though delays and cancellations persisted into the morning as carriers worked to rebook travelers and clear backlogs.

Investigators are examining how the drones reached the airport, considering whether they traveled over land or possibly arrived by sea via routes through the Baltic Strait. The two to three drones appeared to have flown long distances to reach Copenhagen, and officials said they would investigate potential pathways and points of ingress. While the Copenhagen authorities did not rule out a broader link, they stressed there was nothing immediate tying the incident to other events elsewhere in the region.

Jespersen said nothing immediate linked the Oslo drone incident reported the same evening, in which traffic was diverted to a single runway, but officials planned to examine any possible connections. Security concerns across northern Europe have heightened in recent weeks, associated with a mix of Russian sabotage activity and multiple occurrences of drones and fighter jets entering NATO airspace. The episode has renewed attention on the vulnerabilities of civil aviation and the need for robust counter-drone measures.

The events at Copenhagen echoed past drone-related disruptions that have disrupted large airports in the past, including the 2018 disruption at Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom, when dozens of drone sightings over several days forced widespread delays and cancellations. Such episodes have spurred ongoing debates about how best to deter, detect and respond to aerial intrusions while minimizing risk to passengers and crews.

As investigators continue to piece together the sequence of events, travelers are urged to monitor airline alerts and airport advisories for the latest information on schedules and rebookings, and to exercise patience as authorities work to restore normal operations.