Leipzig/Halle Airport partially suspended operations overnight after police reported an unidentified flying object near the airport and later found a suspicious object close to the south runway. A cargo aircraft also struck an unidentified object and diverted to Hanover with minor damage, while runway operations resumed on the north runway in the early hours of Wednesday.
Police and federal authorities treated the incident as a security matter and deployed a bomb-disposal robot to examine the object found near the runway. No immediate danger to the public or airport staff was reported. The disruption forced several aircraft to divert, including at least one passenger service, and temporarily affected both cargo and passenger traffic at the eastern German airport.
Leipzig/Halle is one of Germany’s most important cargo hubs and a major base for DHL-related freighter operations and Antonov cargo flights. The airport’s south runway remained closed during the inspection, underscoring how quickly a short security alert can ripple through a logistics centre handling time-sensitive freight. Authorities had not publicly identified the aircraft involved in the collision at the time of the initial reports.