Drone alarms at BER: Flight operations stopped for two hours!

Drone alarms at BER: Flight operations stopped for two hours!

On Friday evening, November 1st, 2025, flight operations at Berlin's BER Airport had to be suspended for around two hours due to a drone sighting. The disruption took place between 8 p.m. and shortly before 10 p.m., causing significant disruption for travelers.

Several flights were diverted within a short period of time. Four planes had to fly to Dresden, four to Leipzig and three to Hamburg. Affected flights came from the cities of Stockholm, Antalya and Helsinki, among others. After a tip from a witness, the police used a helicopter to investigate the drone, but it could no longer be found.

Authorities response and increase in incidents

Berlin's Interior Senator Clara Spranger called for better drone defense in response to the incident. Sightings of drones near airports are increasing in Germany. This year, five incidents have already been recorded at BER, while there were 20 incidents in 2022 and more than 15 were counted in 2023. Drones are banned within a 1.5 kilometer radius of airports because they pose a threat to air traffic. Violations of this ban can be punished as dangerous interference with air traffic.

The police operation lasted from around 8 p.m. to 8:40 p.m., when the northern runway of BER was initially closed. Due to the impending traffic chaos, delays had to be planned until shortly before midnight, and in several cases possible flight cancellations were to be expected.

Special permits were also issued for the night until Saturday. The ban on night flights no longer applied without restrictions, as take-offs were allowed until 1 a.m. and landings until 4 a.m. in order to deal with the backlog at the airport.