3 Feb, 2020 @ 13:52
1 min read

BREAKING: Spain’s Madrid airport CLOSED after DRONES sighted by pilots

Breaking news at The Olive Press

MADRID airport has been closed after drones were detected by pilots this morning. 

The Madrid Bajaras airport has been forced to stop all arrivals and departures after two pilots notified air traffic control of the presence of drones near the runway.

According to El Mundo, all flights heading to the airport are being diverted.

The shutdown was enacted at 12.40pm and will remain in place until at least 2.40pm.

The State Air Safety Agency (AESA) has warned that flying drones in the vicinity of an airport is a ‘serious’ crime which can bring sanctions of up to €90,000.

Guardia Civil and Policia Nacional are attempting to locate the operator of at least one drone.

According to La Vanguardia, only the 32L runway has been left open for safety reasons in case of flights which cannot be diverted.

Some 17 flights have so far been diverted, mostly to Valencia (7), and the rest to Barcelona (3), Alicante-Elche (2), Valladolid (2) and Zaragoza (3).

It comes just over a year since London Gatwick Airport was forced to close from December 19 to 21 when drones repeatedly flew in and around its airspace.

The chaos affected some 140,000 passengers and around 1,000 flights.

More to follow…

Laurence Dollimore

Laurence Dollimore is a Spanish-speaking, NCTJ-trained journalist with almost a decade’s worth of experience.
The London native has a BA in International Relations from the University of Leeds and and an MA in the same subject from Queen Mary University London.
He earned his gold star diploma in multimedia journalism at the prestigious News Associates in London in 2016, before immediately joining the Olive Press at their offices on the Costa del Sol.
After a five-year stint, Laurence returned to the UK to work as a senior reporter at the Mail Online, where he remained for two years before coming back to the Olive Press as Digital Editor in 2023.
He continues to work for the biggest newspapers in the UK, who hire him to investigate and report on stories in Spain.
These include the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Mail Online, Mail on Sunday and The Sun and Sun Online.
He has broken world exclusives on everything from the Madeleine McCann case to the anti-tourism movement in Tenerife.

GOT A STORY? Contact newsdesk@theolivepress.es or call +34 951 273 575 Twitter: @olivepress

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Storks On A Landfill Site  Guwahati  Assam  India   24 Sep 2018
Previous Story

Storks choose to winter in Spain instead of Africa due to warmer weather and more food

madrid airport
Next Story

BREAKING: Spain’s Madrid airport reopens as police hunt DRONE pilot responsible for shutting down runway after 22 flights diverted to Alicante, Valencia

Latest from Lead

Go toTop