Mystery drones temporarily paralyse Luxembourg airport

Luxembourg's government says an investigation is ongoing after Luxembourg airport temporarily suspended services the previous evening following the detection of drones.

The government said in a statement that flight operations had been temporarily suspended "following the visual sighting of unidentified and unauthorised drones within the airspace over Findel".

A total of 19 flights were diverted to other airports on Friday night, it said, with airport operations resuming at approximately 1.20am.

Prime Minister Luc Frieden told reporters on Saturday that his country had been "confronted with something new for Luxembourg: the presence of potentially bigger drones in the Luxembourg airspace".

"We have observed this over the past few days, which led to the precautionary measure last night," he said.

Luxembourg's Interministerial Drone Assessment Unit had convened to assess the situation and Frieden had held a meeting with a group of ministers and relevant authorities, the government said.

The government statement said that "at this stage, the information available does not allow for definitive conclusions to be drawn".

"The competent authorities are continuing to analyse all information collected and to carry out the necessary checks in close co-operation with their international partners."