Flights at Dublin Airport (DUB) were temporarily suspended after “illegal drone activity” was detected in the area.
Flights were suspended at 8.22pm on February 21, 2023, and were allowed to resume shortly after 8.50pm.
Daa, the operator at Dublin Airport, released details about the incident on its Twitter page.
The tweet read: “Due to illegal drone activity in the vicinity of Dublin Airport, all flight operations are currently suspended. Further updates will follow…”
The initial post was then followed by a further tweet confirming flights had “resumed after a suspension of 30 minutes”.
A spokesperson for Ryanair voiced the carrier’s unhappiness at the situation and called on Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to do “something” to protect Dublin Airport from “drone disruptions”.
“It is unacceptable that more Ryanair flights and hundreds of passengers have again suffered disruptions and delays as Dublin Airport closed for a fifth time in four weeks due to Transport Minister. Minister Ryan should explain why other EU airports have effective drone prevention measures in place,” the spokesperson said.
Dublin Airport has been blighted by drone activity in recent weeks, sometimes resulting in flight diversions.
According to the BBC in February flights were diverted three times in four days from Dublin.
The latest flight disruption came on the same day that a 41-year-old man was granted bail after he was charged with causing a security alert by flying a drone at Dublin Airport in July 2022.
Daa reminded those intent on disrupting flights at the airport with drones will face ‘severe punishment’ if found guilty.
“On the day in which a second person in two weeks has been charged with flying a drone near Dublin Airport, we would remind drone users that it is illegal to fly a drone within 5km of the airport,” daa said.