SPANISH police have opened an investigation after the appearance of a rogue drone near Palma de Mallorca airport on Sunday forced flight operations to be temporarily suspended.
According to Aena, the Spanish airport operator, at least eight flights bound for Palma were forced to divert to other destinations, such as Ibiza and Menorca.
Others circled above Palma until the airport was re-opened.
The incident occurred just before 7pm local time on Sunday evening, with flight operations suspended for around half an hour.
The Policia Nacional deployed their own drone in an attempt to locate the guilty flying object but without success.
Officers have since opened an investigation to determine the cause of the interruption.
The sighting came just one day after Munich airport in Germany was also temporarily closed following reports of a nearby drone.
Earlier this month, the airport suspended operations twice in 24 hours following separate drone sightings, with the disruption affecting thousands of passengers.
Last month, Denmark and Norway were also both forced to close their main airports after drone incursions, with Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, saying she ‘cannot rule out’ Russian involvement.
On September 10, 19 Russian drones flew over Poland. Four of the devices were shot down.
Three days later, a drone was detected in Romanian airspace before three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace for twelve minutes.
The repeated incursions have raised fears of a future confrontation that could spill out into all-out war.
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