Why is Munich Airport Shut for Second Time in 24 Hours?

Germany’s Munich airport was forced to close again on Friday after multiple drones sightings, hours after a similar incident last night. According to news agency Reuters, both the runways were closed.”German air traffic control restricted flight operations at Munich Airport as a precautionary measure due to unconfirmed drone sightings and suspended them until further notice,” a statement on the airport website read. The captain on a London-bound aircraft whose departure was cancelled told passengers that runways had been closed “because of drone sightings near the take-off and landing runways” and that police helicopters were aloft. Flight tracker Flightradar24 showed at least two Munich-bound flights circling at some distance from the airport. The airport website showed at least 10 due arrivals had been diverted starting at 8.35 pm local time (1835 GMT). On Thursday night, at least 17 flights were grounded, affecting nearly 3,000 passengers, while the airport said it diverted a further 15 flights to nearby cities.The airport reopened at 5 am local time when flight arrivals and departures were deemed safe.German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt promised earlier on Friday to bring forward legislation making it easier for the police to ask the military to shoot drones down. Munich is the latest European airport to close after sightings of drones nearby. A spate of sightings over several airports across Denmark and Norway in recent weeks saw tens of thousands of passengers hit.