Image Credentials: Image Title: Drones That Shut Copenhagen Airport Flown by ‘Capable Operator’, Danish Police Say Source: (Sora.ChatGpt) Date: September 2025. Attribution: Created using AI-generated imagery (Sora.ChatGpt), this does not depict a real-world scene.
By Emma Cole | Staff Writer with Agencies
Copenhagen, Sept. 23 — Danish police said Tuesday that drones which forced the closure of Copenhagen Airport for several hours on Monday were controlled by “a capable operator” demonstrating advanced abilities, though no suspects have yet been identified.
Copenhagen Airport, the busiest in Scandinavia, and Oslo Airport in Norway were both shut late Monday after drones were observed in their airspace. Tens of thousands of passengers were stranded as flights were diverted or cancelled.
“We have concluded that this was what we would call a capable operator,” Danish police Chief Superintendent Jens Jespersen told reporters. “It’s an actor who has the capabilities, the will and the tools to show off in this way.”
Jespersen said it was too early to determine whether the incidents in Denmark and Norway were linked. In Copenhagen, officials reported seeing two or three large drones flying near the airport for several hours, switching their lights on and off and approaching from multiple directions before disappearing.
The closures had a significant impact on air travel. Copenhagen diverted 31 flights, which triggered further delays and cancellations affecting about 100 flights and some 20,000 passengers, airport authorities said. Oslo Airport was closed for three hours following two drone sightings, according to Norwegian police.
The incidents follow a weekend of disruption at European airports caused by a cyberattack on check-in and boarding systems operated by Collins Aerospace. That outage affected London’s Heathrow as well as airports in Berlin and Brussels, compounding delays across the region.
Authorities in Denmark said investigations were ongoing and declined to speculate on possible motives or actors behind the drone activity.