Luxembourg Airport Suspends All Flights After Drone Activity; NOTAM Issued, Aircraft Diverted

Luxembourg Airport (ELLX) suspended flight operations late Friday after reports of unidentified drone activity near the airfield, forcing several inbound aircraft to hold or divert.

A NOTAM issued for the airport states that operations were suspended because of UAS activity, with no arrivals and no departures permitted while the restriction was in effect. Separately, an earlier NOTAM warned of potential UAS activity in the vicinity of the airport and instructed pilots to report any sightings immediately to Luxembourg tower or approach control. (Aerobreak Map)

The latest disruption comes one day after Luxembourg’s government convened its Interministerial Drone Assessment Cell following multiple reports of unidentified drones in the country’s airspace, mainly around the Medernach region. Authorities said at the time that the available evidence did not yet allow firm conclusions about the origin of the drones and that checks were continuing with foreign partners. (Gouvernement du Luxembourg)

There is also a separate temporary drone-flight ban in parts of Luxembourg this week linked to security measures for the Škoda Tour de Luxembourg, but that restriction is distinct from the reported airport shutdown. (Direction de l’aviation civile)

The strongest new element now is that this is no longer only a warning about possible drone activity: airport operations were actually suspended and flights were being diverted around Luxembourg, making this a significant developing aviation-security incident.