Unidentified drones closed Luxembourg’s airport on 18 and 21 September, and the government still cannot say whose they were. The first closure, on a Friday night, diverted 19 flights and kept the runway shut from 22:13 until about 01:20.
The second, the following Monday, lasted from 21:38 to 22:30, according to the airport’s statement as local outlets reported it. No diversion figure was published.
Prime Minister Luc Frieden told reporters the country faced “something new for Luxembourg, the presence of potentially bigger drones”.
Not from a shop
Officials gave more detail at a briefing on 24 September. At least 15 sightings had been logged since mid-September, they said, which is not necessarily 15 drones. Police Director General Pascal Peters described aircraft one to two metres across, some multicopters and some fixed-wing, some with position lights on. Frieden said the bigger ones were not bought in a shop.
None has been shot down, caught or found. Home Affairs Minister Léon Gloden said that without a drone in hand the government cannot say where they came from. It has not named Russia or any other state.
Luxair had 17 aircraft in the air when air traffic control warned of drones on 18 September, chief executive Gilles Feith told RTL. All were diverted, to airports from Cologne to Basel, and six stayed away overnight.
No law to bring one down
Peters said police could neutralise a drone in seconds if the legal framework allowed it, and for drones it does not. Defence Minister Yuriko Backes announced a tougher drone law with heavier criminal penalties, but gave no text or timetable.
Detection equipment budgeted for 2027 will be bought this year, Frieden said, and France and Belgium have lent kit in the meantime. Ordinary air traffic radar does not reliably see small, low-flying objects. Andrea Drescher, who heads Luxembourg’s air navigation administration, said knowing what happens within 5 to 10 km is already good.
Berlin’s airport switched on its own drone detection system on 30 September. Its tower logged 28 drones in the first half of 2026 and halted flights seven times, according to air navigation service figures reported by dpa.
