Flights at Brussels and Liège airports in Belgium were suspended on Tuesday evening after drone sightings raised safety concerns.
It is the latest of several such scenes seen across Europe in recent months.
A drone was first spotted near Brussels airport shortly before 8 p.m. local time (1900 GMT), prompting the grounding of flights as a precautionary measure. Many incoming planes were diverted and others were stopped from taking off.
The main airport in Brussels reopened two hours later, but was closed again after more drones were spotted. It is still not clear when flights will resume. “There are no flights departing or arriving due to the suspected drones,” a spokesperson said.
‘This is instability’
Liège airport, used primarily as a cargo hub, also halted operations due to drone sightings, an airport spokesman said.
Belgian Defense Minister Theo Franken told the country’s public broadcaster on Tuesday night that the incident appeared to have been carried out by professionals.
“They are trying to spread panic in Belgium,” he said. “It’s instability.”
Increasing drone incidents
A few days ago, Franken reported sightings of drones at the Klein Brogel airbase in Belgium, which is used by NATO forces. Some local outlets also reported more drone sightings in the airspace on Tuesday.
Copenhagen Airport was closed for hours and Oslo Airport for three hours after drone sightings in September.
Meanwhile, there have also been suspected Russian drone incursions into Polish and Romanian airspace in recent months.
Edited by: Srinivas Majumdaru