Photo credit/Munich airport website

Germany’s Munich Airport was forced into an unusual shutdown late on Thursday night after multiple drone sightings disrupted operations, grounding flights and diverting others in what has become a recurring challenge for European aviation hubs.“When a drone is sighted, the safety of travelers is the top priority,” the airport said in the statement.The airport said in a statement that 17 flights were grounded shortly after 10 pm local time, affecting nearly 3,000 passengers. Another 15 incoming flights were diverted to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna and Frankfurt.The incident follows similar disruptions last week when drone sightings led to temporary shutdowns at airports in Denmark and Norway.Munich had already been on alert earlier in the week when its Oktoberfest festival was briefly shut after a bomb threat and explosives were found in a residential building in the northern part of the city.Located in Bavaria, southern Germany, Munich Airport is a hub for Lufthansa and handled nearly 20 million passengers in the first half of this year.Denmark has not directly named who it thinks is behind the drone activity in its airspace last week, which caused major disruption at several airports. But Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, “we can at least conclude that there is primarily one country that poses a threat to Europe’s security – and that is Russia.”Europe has been on alert in recent weeks over repeated drone sightings and alleged Russian drone incursions into NATO airspace in Poland and Romania, along with claims of Estonian airspace being violated by Russian fighter jets.On Wednesday, European Union leaders supported new plans to strengthen the bloc’s defences against Russian drones.Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking on Thursday, joked that he would not fly drones over Denmark anymore. Moscow, however, has denied involvement in the incidents.