Nuremberg Airport (Albrecht Duerer Airport) confirmed on Tuesday local time that flight operations had been suspended after the code 7500 — the international transponder signal indicating a hijacking — was transmitted from an aircraft. Police said in a WhatsApp channel that the pilot could no longer be reached by radio, prompting emergency scrambles as a precaution. In a statement on its website, the airport did not specify the reason for the closure and said more information would follow.
“We received a report of an unclear air emergency,” police said on X.
German media outlet Bild reported that a possible drone sighting had already disrupted air traffic at the airport overnight into Tuesday. Three pilots independently reported seeing an object during take-off or landing, Bild said. An airport spokesperson told Bild that six flights were delayed and two inbound flights were diverted to other airports as a precaution.
The incident follows a series of drone-related disruptions at German airports. In August, a drone forced a 90-minute closure of runways at Hanover Airport. That came a week after an explosives-laden drone was discovered at Leipzig Airport, which Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described as a potential “hybrid attack scenario.” Der Spiegel, citing an internal police report, noted that “the possibility of a hybrid activity cannot be excluded.”
German authorities use the term “hybrid attack” to describe incidents including sabotage, espionage and propaganda that have increased since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and are mostly blamed on Russia. Germany has become Ukraine’s leading military backer in Europe. The police report on the Hanover incident concluded it is “currently impossible” to link that event to the Leipzig drone.
Authorities across Europe have stepped up surveillance of the skies amid an increasing number of mostly mysterious drone incidents. Investigations into the cause of Tuesday's emergency at Nuremberg are now underway, police said.