Drone delays flights at airport in DJI’s Shenzhen home base

Here’s a fun little item that’ll lift enduringly grounded spirits around Gatwick and Dublin airports with a boost of schadenfreude. According to media reports, a UAV sighting caused flights to be halted for over hour in and out of the Chinese city of Shenzhen – headquarters and home of global drone giant DJI.

The interruption occurred Monday at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, forcing about 30 flights to be diverted and over 70 delays. Although there was no indication DJI drones were involved, a report in the official English-language China Daily said word of disruptions following a UAV sighting around the platform began spreading on social media around 10 p.m. The official all-clear for normal activity to resume was given at 11:49 p.m.

Shenzhen has long served as DJI’s headquarters and also plays home to many of China’s hippest and fastest-moving tech companies. Given the abundance of professional geeks flying in and out of the city, it was rather somewhat ironic – and, doubtless, pointless – for airport officials to alert inconvenienced travelers to the drone’s presence with text reminders about not flying UAVs, kites, balloons, and other aerial bodies around the facility or in airplane flight paths.

Perhaps in deference to DJI’s status as a major corporate resident in the city, Shenzhen airport failed to mention a drone as the craft provoking the disruption. 

“Due to the appearance of an unidentified flying object in the vicinity of the airport, certain flights at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport were temporarily restricted to ensure flight safety,” the airport was reported saying in a statement heavy with understatement.

Yet that judicious wording was probably wise, given controversies provoked at other global airports following less careful drone invasion announcements. 

London’s Gatwick Airport continues suffering the trauma from its catastrophic (and some claim entirely imagined) UAV sighting in 2018 that caused a 36-hour closure. The platform has repeatedly halted flights since due to suspected drone incursions – including one just last May involving that turned out to be weather balloons.

Dublin Airport also experienced passenger and airline outrage after halting flights due to drone reports. In those cases, the presence of craft in restricted areas was less the source of anger than the inability of authorities to lock in on and neutralize both craft and operators – despite reportedly possessing all the anti-UAV tech needed to do so.