Airport disruption
Oslo Airport closed for hours after reported drone sightings; later reporting says a detection system was down
Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, Norway22 Sep 2025 · event dateapproximate location You are viewing revision 1 as published on 12 Oct 2026. The dossier text, evidence states, claims and sources of this revision are fixed; catalogue context such as cost estimates is not shown here. View the current version
On the night of 22 September 2025, Oslo Airport closed its airspace after reports of drone observations near Gardermoen. Several flights were diverted and the airspace reopened at about 03:20 on 23 September. A later Dagbladet report says it is still not publicly known whether drones were actually observed, and that a drone detection system at the airport was down at the time.
AttributionNot established
Claims and evidence
3 sources · 5 original statements
Sources that repeat the same original statement count once: a number of articles is not a number of independent confirmations.
| Claim | Original source | Assessment |
|---|
| Operations Avinor said the airport's airspace was closed for several hours after drones were detected nearby. Source passage [2]“The airport’s airspace was closed for several hours after drones were detected nearby, Avinor, Norway’s air operator, told NRK on Tuesday.” Passage checked word for word against the source on 12 Oct 2026. | Avinor, Norway's airport operator via Kyiv Post | supports Confirms the closure. The statement says drones were detected, but later reporting questions whether any were observed. |
| Drone The airport director said patrols spotted luminous objects moving in the sky. Source passage [1]“said patrols spotted “luminous objects moving in the sky.”” Passage checked word for word against the source on 12 Oct 2026. | Oslo Airport director via European Broadcasting Union Spotlight | supports A visual sighting by airport patrols, not a technical detection; the objects were not identified. |
| Drone Dagbladet reported that it is still not publicly known whether drones were observed over Gardermoen. Source passage [3]“Det er fortsatt ikke offentlig kjent om det ble observert droner eller ei.” Passage checked word for word against the source on 12 Oct 2026. | Dagbladet | contradicts The quote is in Norwegian, in the original wording, and was published on 10 October 2025. It undermines treating the sighting as a confirmed drone. |
| Context Avinor confirmed to another outlet that its detection system was down when the possible observations were made and that this contributed to the closure. Source passage [3]“Avinor bekrefter imidlertid overfor Filter Nyheter at deres system var nede da de mulige droneobservasjonene ble gjort, og at det medvirket til stengingen av luftrommet.” Passage checked word for word against the source on 12 Oct 2026. | Avinor, as reported by Dagbladet via Dagbladet | context only Second-hand report of an Avinor statement to Filter Nyheter, in Norwegian. The cause of the system outage is unknown. |
| Attribution Russia has denied involvement in the drone activity that shut the Copenhagen and Oslo airports. Source passage [1]“Russia has denied involvement in the drone activity that shut Copenhagen and Oslo airports” Passage checked word for word against the source on 12 Oct 2026. | Russian government via European Broadcasting Union Spotlight | context only Covers both airports; the cited sources name no party for the Oslo reports. |
Original statements
- Avinor, Norway's airport operator · repeated by sources [2]
- Oslo Airport director · repeated by sources [1]
- Dagbladet · repeated by sources [3]
- Avinor, as reported by Dagbladet · repeated by sources [3]
- Russian government · repeated by sources [1]
What we know
Norway's airport operator Avinor said the airspace was closed for several hours and several flights were diverted, including one that was rerouted to Copenhagen. The closure came on the same night as the drone-related closure of Copenhagen Airport.
The closure and diversions are reported by Avinor via NRK and by the European Broadcasting Union's fact-checking desk, which rated that only official statements confirm a drone sighting near Oslo airport. Dagbladet reports that a drone detection system was down when the possible observations were made and that Avinor confirmed this to another outlet, saying it contributed to the closure.
What remains unknown
Whether drones were present at all. Dagbladet reported in October that it is still not publicly known whether drones were observed, and the police district investigating said information about airport systems is classified. Who operated any drones is unknown. Police detained two people that night for unauthorised drone flying in central Oslo; a police attorney said that case appears unrelated to the airport.
Operator attribution: Not established. No one has been identified as responsible in the cited sources. Russia has denied involvement in the drone activity that closed the Copenhagen and Oslo airports.
How the story changed
Airport patrols reported luminous objects in the sky; traffic was redirected to another runway, then further sightings led to a full closure of the airspace around midnight. [1]
Avinor reopened the airspace by about 03:22 local time. [1]
Police in Oslo said they had detained two people overnight in connection with unauthorised drone flights in the city centre; a police attorney said the case appears unrelated to the airport incidents. [2]
Dagbladet reported that a drone detection system was down at the time and that it is still not publicly known whether drones were observed. [3]
Editorial changes
- Revision 1 · 12 Oct 2026Curated dossier created after checking the cited sources line by line.
Cite this dossier
DroneLedger. “Oslo Airport closed for hours after reported drone sightings; later reporting says a detection system was down.” Dossier oslo-gardermoen-closure-2025-09-22, revision 1, updated 12 Oct 2026. https://droneincidents.com/incident/oslo-gardermoen-closure-2025-09-22/
Cite the revision you used: later revisions may change evidence states.
Curated dossier · sources checked line by line on 12 Oct 2026
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