Air traffic at Palma de Mallorca’s Son Sant Joan Airport was halted for 35 minutes on Sunday after multiple pilots reported seeing a drone flying between runways, according to Spain’s airport operator Aena. The incident forced eight flights to divert and delayed several others during one of the airport’s busiest days of the season, with nearly 900 takeoffs and landings scheduled.

At least six flight crews reported spotting a drone near the runway area, prompting Enaire, Spain’s air navigation authority, to suspend operations for safety reasons. Security forces were deployed to the area, using their own unmanned aircraft to investigate, but found nothing suspicious.

The disruption caused a series of diversions to Ibiza Airport, where several aircraft were forced to land due to insufficient fuel reserves for extended holding patterns. Passengers on Ryanair’s Madrid–Palma flight, scheduled to arrive at 19:10, were among those affected and waited on the ground in Ibiza for refueling before continuing to Mallorca. Flights finally resumed just before 9 p.m.

Drone-related incidents near airports have become increasingly frequent across Europe. Only days earlier, Aalborg Airport in Denmark was closed for an hour following a suspected drone sighting, while Munich Airport in Germany faced two consecutive nighttime shutdowns for the same reason, affecting over 80 flights.

The latest incident in Palma highlights growing concerns about the risks drones pose to aviation safety, particularly during high-traffic periods at Europe’s major tourist airports.