Copenhagen airport drone incursion 'attack' on critical infrastructure, PM says

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Tuesday the country was a target of a "serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure" after reports of multiple large drones shut down Copenhagen airport for several hours the evening before.

Frederiksen said authorities were still investigating the cause of the incident, but that she could not rule out Russia being to blame.

"We’ve seen drones over Poland that shouldn’t have been there. We’ve seen activity in Romania, violations of Estonian airspace," Frederiksen said.

"So I can only say that, in my view, this is a serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure."

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said it was “too early to say” whether Russia was involved and whether there was a connection between the incident and Russian drone incursions into Polish and Estonian airspace earlier this month.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected the allegations.

The drones flew around the airport for four hours before they disappeared, according to reports. Thousands of passengers were left stranded after at least 35 flights bound for Copenhagen Airport were diverted to other airports.

Airports in Malmö, Billund, Aarhus and Gothenburg received the most flights, according to the post. Oslo airport in nearby Norway was also forced to close for four hours after two drones were spotted in the skies above it.

Both airports were reopened early Tuesday, though flight delays and cancellations continued through the morning.

'Intention to show off'

The unknown perpetrator was a capable drone pilot with the ability to fly them many kilometres to reach the airport, Jens Jespersen of the Copenhagen Police said during a news conference Tuesday morning.

There was nothing to indicate the pilot intended to cause any harm, Jespersen said. "The way they flew yesterday indicates that what they actually intended was to show off," he added.

Police chose not to shoot down the drones because the risk was too great, given the airport's full passenger capacity, the planes on the runways, and nearby fuel depots, he said.

Investigators are examining how the drones reached the airport — whether it was by land or possibly on boats travelling through the strategic straits into the Baltic Sea.

Security concerns in northern Europe are heightened following an increase in Russian sabotage activities and multiple drone and fighter jet incursions into NATO airspace in recent weeks.

In 2023, London’s Gatwick Airport closed its runway for almost an hour after a drone was reported nearby.

In December 2018, more than 140,000 travellers were stranded or delayed during the Christmas season after dozens of drone sightings shut down Gatwick for parts of three consecutive days.