The number of drone sightings at German airports has risen significantly in the first half of 2026, with a total of 166 incidents reported at the country's 15 international airports, most of them in the wider area around them, DPA reported, citing data published today by the German Air Traffic Management (DFS).
This is significantly more than the 101 cases recorded in the first half of 2025, according to data from the German air traffic control authority.
Berlin-Brandenburg Airport leads the country in statistics with 28 drone sightings in the first half of this year. In seven of these cases, air traffic was temporarily suspended. For the whole of 2025, only eight drones were detected at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, according to the data.
Frankfurt Airport, Germany's largest, is right behind Berlin-Brandenburg with 27 drones spotted in the first half of 2026.
The German Air Traffic Control Authority's data did not give a reason for the nationwide increase. For Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, however, the increase is thought to be due to the federal police installing a new flying object detection system there this year that can identify drones more quickly and reliably, according to the German air traffic control authority.
The German federal police have so far declined to comment on the matter.
A drone loaded with explosives was found late Tuesday at Leipzig Airport, which also serves another German city, Halle. According to security officials, it was located near a Ukrainian cargo plane. Federal police specialists defused the explosive device.