German police temporarily closed Nuremberg’s Albrecht Duerer Airport and suspended flights Tuesday following a suspected in-flight emergency on a plane arriving from Greece, authorities said.
"We are operating under the suspicion of an in-flight emergency, though this has not yet been officially confirmed," a police spokesperson said, adding that investigations are ongoing.
The heavy police deployment was triggered shortly before the scheduled landing of a flight from the Greek island of Corfu. According to airport officials, the aircraft landed safely.
The German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported that an emergency code was squawked while the plane was airborne. German Air Force Eurofighters were subsequently scrambled to escort the aircraft.
Tuesday’s security scare followed a disruption early this morning when three airline pilots independently reported a possible drone sighting near the airfield during takeoffs and landings.
Border police, working with air traffic control and airport management, immediately launched a search involving a police helicopter, but no drone was found.
The incident caused minor delays to six flights – two arrivals and four departures – before normal operations resumed.