Popular Spanish airport closed for hours after drone sighting

The flying drone was discovered near Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport

A Spanish airport in a major tourist centre closed its airspace for two hours on Monday night following the sighting of a drone.

Since late September, mysterious drone overflights have caused closures and disruptions at airports across the European Union, including Munich, one of Germany’s largest airports, and four in Denmark.

The flying drone was discovered near Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport, according to AENA officials, the company that manages Spanish airports.

Ten flights bound for Alicante, which is about 420 kilometres (260 miles) southeast of Madrid, were diverted to cities including Valencia, Barcelona, Mallorca and Murcia, it added.

Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (Getty)

Some flights were delayed, but there were no cancellations.

It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the incident, and authorities are investigating.

The airport broke its monthly passenger record in September with more than 1.9 million visitors, mostly from the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.