British flights to Spain disrupted by drones again, diverted to Palma, Mallorca

Copyright majorcadailybulletin

Just over a week ago, Palma airport operations were disrupted after a drone was sighted forcing it to suspend operations for just over half an hour. The incident took place on Sunday, October 19, when the sighting of a drone forced operations at Son Sant Joan to be temporarily suspended. Sources at airport authority Aena said that arrivals were halted for at least 35 minutes and that, after carrying out safety checks. The incident forced certain aircraft to wait or divert to other destinations. And drones have struck again at a Spanish airport disputing a number of flights, including five from the United Kingdom, at Alicante Airport. A total of ten international flights changed their routes, causing delays for about a thousand travellers. The Aena airport authority suspended operations shortly before 9pm on Monday night after a drone was detected in the airspace. Normal operations were only resumed around 11pm. It was confirmed overnight that ten international flights bound for the Costa Blanca had to be diverted to nearby airports: seven to Valencia, one to Murcia, one to Barcelona, and one to Palma. The drone alert also caused delays for holidaymakers on flights heading to Alicante. According to local reports, about a thousand travellers were directly affected. Earlier this month at least three planes were turned away at Fuerteventura Airport in the Canary Islands, according to reports, drones flying near the airport - which connects to more than 80 destinations - meant the flights couldn’t land. and top level talks have been taking place about protecting European airspace with some airlines worried that mounting drone incursions could cause widespread flight chaos across the region. European Union leaders in Copenhagen have since discussed a “drone wall” to protect the continent from Russian drones, just days after airspace intrusions by unidentified unmanned aircraft closed Danish airports. Many of the leaders have accused Russia of brazen violations of European airspace with recent incursions by drones over Poland and fighter jets over Estonia.