Hamburg Airport briefly suspended take-offs and landings on Saturday evening after a reported drone sighting, stopping operations for around 15 minutes. Police later found no drone or other flying object, and the airport resumed normal operations after the security sweep.
A police spokesman said officers were alerted at about 19:50 local time to an unidentified aircraft in the airport area. Emergency crews searched the site but did not locate any object. After reviewing a photo taken by a witness, police judged that the sighting may have been a hot air balloon rather than a drone.
The incident comes days after a serious drone-related disruption at Leipzig/Halle, which has intensified debate in Germany over airport drone defences. Hamburg has already faced a series of drone-related disruptions this year, according to media reports, making the latest episode part of a wider airspace-security concern rather than a confirmed drone attack.