Luxembourg airport; Credit: Ali Sahib, Chronicle.lu

In the early hours of Saturday 19 September 2026, Luxembourg's international airport at Findel was temporarily closed due to unauthorised drone activity.

According to Lux-Airport who first announced the activity at 01:47, flight operations were "temporarily suspended… since Friday evening following the detection of unauthorised unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the vicinity of and subsequently over the aerodrome".

They described the decision as a "precautionary measure to ensure the safety of passengers, airline crews, airport personnel and aircraft", and confirmed that the airport would continue "to monitor the situation in coordination with the relevant authorities, air traffic services, airlines and operational partners".

A couple of hours later, at 03:56, Luxair issued a press release, explaining that seventeen Luxair flights bound for Luxembourg were diverted to Cologne/Bonn, Brussels, Frankfurt-Hahn, Liège, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Basel and Strasbourg, affecting more than 1,800 passengers.

The flights were diverted as follows:
• Cologne/Bonn: five flights from Munich, Madrid, Heraklion, Nice and Hamburg.
• Brussels: five flights from Berlin, Málaga, Porto, Palma de Mallorca and Copenhagen.
• Frankfurt-Hahn: two flights from Vienna and Burgas.
• Liège: two flights from Djerba and London City.
• Paris Charles de Gaulle: one flight from Faro.
• Basel: one flight from Rome.
• Strasbourg: one flight from Milan Malpensa.

Following the reopening of Luxembourg Airport, eleven flights originating from Madrid, Heraklion, Málaga, Nice, Porto, Palma de Mallorca, Djerba, London City, Copenhagen, Hamburg and Burgas returned to Luxembourg.

Ground transfers to Luxembourg were arranged for passengers travelling from Munich via Cologne/Bonn, Vienna via Frankfurt-Hahn and Milan Malpensa via Strasbourg. Passengers travelling from Berlin, diverted to Brussels, are scheduled to return by coach on Saturday 19 September, following an overnight stay.

Overnight accommodation was being arranged for passengers travelling from Faro and Rome, whose flights were diverted to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Basel respectively. These passengers are expected to continue to Luxembourg on Saturday, 19 September.

Their press statement continued "Despite the resumption of airport operations, further disruption and knock-on effects are expected on Saturday 19 September, as aircraft and crews are repositioned and the flight schedule is progressively restored".

Affected passengers are advised to check their emails and messages regularly and to check their flight status before travelling to the airport. 

The Luxembourg government also issued a press statement of their own at 07:09, confirming that the Inter-ministerial “drones” assessment unit will meet this morning to carry out an assessment of the situation. The Evaluation Unit brings together representatives of the administrations and services responsible for security, territorial protection and airspace surveillance.