Eindhoven Airport closed due to drone sightings, flights diverted
November 23, 2025
Eindhoven Airport in the Netherlands was closed on Saturday evening for two hours after “multiple” drones were spotted in the area. The Dutch Defence Minister, Ruben Brekelmans confirmed the incident in a statement. The airport closure has caused several diversions to airports in the region.
This is the latest in a string of drone-related incidents at airports across the Benelux region in recent weeks. Drone sightings in Belgium forced the closure of Liege and Brussels airports at the start of this month which had a significant knock-on effect for travel over the days that followed.
It is not immediately clear where the drones originated from, nor the intention. The Ministry of Defence said that it had “taken action” but did not comment further.
Drone sightings over Eindhoven close the airport
The airport was closed at 19:00 local time, and reopened at around 22:30 on Saturday evening. Several aircraft were forced to divert, and departures were delayed. Arriving aircraft were most impacted, with a total of 9 diversions. Departures during the later hours of the evening were also delayed.
| Airline | Origin | Expected arrival (EIN) | Diversion airport |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ryanair | Krakow | 19:25 | Cologne (CGN) |
| Ryanair | Faro | 19:30 | Weeze (NRN) |
| Ryanair | Alicante | 19:40 | Weeze (NRN) |
| TUI fly Netherlands | Tenerife | 20:20 | Brussels (BRU) |
| Ryanair | Porto | 20:50 | Cologne (CGN) |
| Transavia | Alicante | 21:25 | Rotterdam (RTM) |
| Transavia | Faro | 22:05 | Amsterdam (AMS) |
| Transavia | Seville | 22:20 | Amsterdam (AMS) |
| Transavia | Malaga | 22:30 | Amsterdam (AMS) |
The first flight to land upon the airport’s reopening was a Transavia flight from Tenerife.
On Friday evening, the Dutch Ministry of Defence had spotted drones over the Volkel Air Base in the South of the country, barely 40 kilometers from Eindhoven Airport. Authorities attempted to shoot the drones down but were unsuccessful.
When the drones were first sighted over Eindhoven Airport, Brekelmans said investigation was ongoing and action would be taken where necessary. After the airport reopened, he said: “The Ministry of Defense has taken measures, but due to security reasons, it cannot yet share more information about the manner in which this was done. Disruption of air traffic with drones is unacceptable. So we took action against it.”
Eindhoven Airport primarily serves low-cost operators including Ryanair and Transavia. Contrary to Brussels Airport, the knock-on impact could be less significant as neither airline operates under a hub-and-spoke model.
Brussels and Liège airports were closed earlier this month for the same reasons
Heavy disruption ensued in Belgium earlier this month when drone sightings forced the closure of Liège and Brussels Airports. Cargo operations were the primary impacted at Liège Airport, a major air freight hub in Europe.
There are very few passenger operations during the evening hours at Brussels Airport but diverted aircraft meant that the morning’s hub rush was heavily disrupted. 40 flights had been cancelled, including 16 departures and 24 arrivals.
Belgium’s Defence Minister Theo Francken said that the drone incident appeared to have been carried out by professionals with malicious intent. Though there is little evidence to suggest Russia is behind the attack, Belgium’s security forces privately share “no reasonable doubt” that Moscow is behind it, VRT NWS reported.
Featured image: PixelBiss | stock.adobe.com
