Drone incursions stopped Frankfurt airport traffic twice in 2023

Fraport, the operator of Frankfurt airport, one of continental Europe’s busiest, says that air traffic had to be completely halted on two days in 2023 due to drone incursions around the airfield. In response to a parliamentary inquiry in the German state of Hesse, in which Frankfurt airport is located, Fraport says the incidents which restricted or shut down airport operations occurred on 6 July, for 85min, and 28 September, for 55min. The document was published by the Hessian parliament on 10 April. All told, during 2023, air traffic was restricted on a total of 10 days, more than in any other year since Fraport first recorded drone activity in the vicinity of the airport in December 2017. Between December 2017 and November 2023, Fraport noted 26 dates on which drone incursions had an impact on flight operations, including on six days on which traffic had to be halted completely for between 25min to over 1h. Fraport was unable to quantify the cost of the disruptions. ”Drones as a means of crime have been included in police crime statistics in Hesse since 2016,” the parliamentary document reads. ”Since 2016, 67 cases of dangerous interference with air traffic using a drone have been recorded.”<br/>