Drone sightings close Copenhagen and Oslo airports

Denmark and Norway were forced to shut down their main airports on Monday night after reports of drone activity in the skies of the two cities.

CLAIM: Videos posted to social media platforms claimed to show drone activity in the skies of Copenhagen and Oslo near the two cities' airports.

BACKGROUND: The recent drone sightings come against the backdrop of a series of similar airspace violations across Europe. On September 9, around two dozen drones crossed into Polish territory, some of which were shot down by the Polish military. Warsaw later accused Russia of responsibility. Days later, Romania reported that a Russian drone had breached its airspace. And last Friday, Estonian authorities confirmed that Russian fighter jets entered their airspace.

METHOD: Talking to an aviation expert, checking official statements, using geolocation methods for Copenhagen airport.

RATING: Videos show drones in the vicinity of Copenhagen airport. Only official statements confirm a drone sighting near Oslo airport.

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Denmark and Norway were forced to shut down their main airports on Monday night after reports of drone activity in the skies of the two cities.

Officials stated that the closure disrupted travel plans for an estimated 20,000 passengers.

In Denmark, authorities reported spotting two to three sizable drones operating in the airspace near Copenhagen Airport.

FlightRadar noted that operations there were suspended at 8:26 p.m. (1826 GMT), resulting in about 50 flights being redirected to other airports.

Norwegian airport operator Avinor reported that Oslo’s airspace, which had been closed from midnight (2200 GMT) after a drone sighting forced flights to divert, was reopened by 3:22 a.m. (0122 GMT).

Passengers report travel disruptions

Videos and images captured by passengers showed flight disruptions at both airports, with stranded travellers waiting for the reopening of flight operations, mainly at Copenhagen airport, the busiest in the Nordic region.

Drone sighting or another flying object?

Two videos circulating widely on social media showed airborne objects over Copenhagen airport emitting a flashing green light.

Another video was published by TV2 Denmark after the station established contact with the originator.

When contacted for comment, German aviation expert Andreas Spaeth said: “For me, it’s clearly a drone. No aircraft carries a green position light in that way.”

Danish police also confirmed that the objects were indeed drones, adding that a "capable actor" was "behind the use of these drones."

Using images from the stock photography and media licensing site Alamy, we geolocated this video to Copenhagen Airport by matching details in the footage with this photograph from Alamy’s repository. Structural features such as the airport’s floodlight towers and the curved white elements along the roofline show a clear correspondence between the video footage and the reference photograph.

Courtesy of Apple Maps

Drones were also reported over Gardermoen, Oslo’s main airport. Airport Director Thorgeir Landevaag said patrols spotted “luminous objects moving in the sky.” After drones were seen near one runway, traffic was redirected to another, but further sightings led to a full airspace closure. A five-kilometre no-fly zone surrounds the airport.

Russia blamed

Russia has denied involvement in the drone activity that shut Copenhagen and Oslo airports, though Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she could not rule out Moscow’s role, calling it “the most serious attack” on Denmark’s critical infrastructure.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the incident as a Russian violation of Danish airspace. Norway reported three Russian airspace breaches this year, though Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said it was unclear if the latest was deliberate.

NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte warned that the alliance would use “all necessary military and non-military tools” to deter threats from Russia.

Launch direction of the drones

Danish Police were working on the hypothesis that the drones may have been controlled and launched from a ship in the Øresund or the Baltic Sea. Chief Inspector Jens Jespersen elaborated on this in an interview with TV 2: “I cannot rule out that this is the case. Nor can I rule out that they came from one or more ships in the Øresund or the Baltic Sea. This is part of our considerations,” he said.

Data from marinetraffic.com show a series of civil vessels having passed the strait during the incident and heading to ports on the Russian Baltic coast.

News of arrests unrelated to the drone sighting in Oslo

Two tourists were arrested for flying a drone in central Oslo, where airspace is restricted. Police attorney André Kvistad Alme told local media the case appears unrelated to the airport incidents. Gardermoen is located nearly 40 kilometres outside central Oslo.

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SOURCES

nyheder.tv2.dk. (2025). Her ses droner i luften over Københavns Lufthavn. [online] [Accessed 23 Sep. 2025].

X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: Footage of a drone flying very low over Copenhagen airport tonight [Accessed 23 Sep. 2025].

Alamy Limited (2017). Avions SAS à l’aéroport de Copenhague Kastrup. [online] Alamyimages.fr. [Accessed 23 Sep. 2025].