Explosive-laden drone found near Ukrainian aircraft at German airport PHOTO / UPDATED

A drone was spotted near a Ukrainian aircraft at Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport overnight, NATO confirmed on August 5, after flight operations were suspended following what police described as a security incident, DPA reports.

According to security sources, the drone was fitted with explosives and a detonator.

Several aircraft, including a passenger plane, were diverted after an unidentified flying object was reported and a suspicious item was found at the eastern German airport.

The northern section of the airport resumed operations on August 5, while the southern runway remained closed as investigations continued.

The suspicious item was found near the southern runway and examined by police, who deployed a bomb disposal robot.

Police were investigating whether the unidentified flying object and the suspicious item were connected.

There was no immediate danger, a police spokesman said.

13:40

Flight operations at Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport, one of Europe's major cargo hubs, were disrupted overnight after a flying object was reported near the airport and another suspicious object was discovered close to a runway, police said.

Several flights, including a passenger aircraft, were diverted to alternative airports after the flying object was spotted shortly before midnight, Euronews reports.

Police spokesperson Olaf Hoppe told Euronews that, at the same time the object was sighted, another suspicious object was found near the airport's southern runway and examined by Germany's federal police. Hoppe declined to confirm whether the flying object was a drone.

Authorities deployed a bomb disposal robot to inspect the object found near the southern runway but provided no further details about its nature.

Operations on the airport's second runway resumed shortly before 2 a.m., while the southern runway remained closed on the morning of August 5, according to a police statement. Hoppe said the federal police operation was nearing completion.

The incident occurred near cargo aircraft operated by Ukrainian carrier Antonov Airlines, which has relocated a significant portion of its operations to Leipzig/Halle Airport, according to the Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper.

Antonov Airlines currently bases its An-124 cargo aircraft at Leipzig/Halle and is constructing a new maintenance hangar scheduled for completion in 2027. The airline moved much of its activity to Germany after its original home base at Hostomel Airport was destroyed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The latest incident adds to a series of security-related disruptions at German airports linked to suspected drone activity.

In October last year, local media reported that a laser detection system had been deployed near Munich Airport following repeated drone sightings that forced the airport to suspend operations for two consecutive days. In November, flight operations at Berlin Brandenburg Airport were interrupted for around two hours after a drone was reported in its airspace.

According to Germany's air navigation service, DFS, reports of unidentified drones in the country's airspace have been increasing. The agency recorded 144 drone overflights last year, including 35 incidents in the vicinity of Frankfurt Airport.

By Vafa Guliyeva