Finland scrambles F/A-18s as drone warning closes Helsinki-Vantaa Airport

Finland’s Helsinki-Vantaa Airport suspended all air traffic for three hours on Friday, May 15, 2026, after authorities issued an emergency drone warning across the Uusimaa region, scrambling Finnish Air Force F/A-18 Hornet fighters and diverting long-haul arrivals to Stockholm and Rovaniemi. 

According to airport operator Finavia, traffic was halted from 4:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. local time, with operations resuming at 7:19 a.m. Two Finnair morning arrivals from Tokyo were diverted to Stockholm and Rovaniemi respectively. 

A service from Osaka also landed in Rovaniemi, which routinely serves as an alternate for transpolar flights entering Finnish airspace via Lapland. Flights from Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaga were rerouted to Stockholm. 

Conflicting accounts on the ground 

The Ministry of the Interior’s rescue authority issued a four-sentence emergency warning across Uusimaa at 3:49 a.m., advising residents to shelter indoors. Kimmo Kohvakka, Director General for Rescue Services at the Ministry of the Interior, told Finnish news agency STT that at least one drone had strayed into Finnish territory, adding that there was “possibly more than one drone”. 

Separately, Henrik Gahmberg, a Finnish Defence Forces communications specialist, told tabloid Iltalehti that the armed forces had made no sightings of drones inside Finland. The Finnish Defence Command did not explain the discrepancy when pressed by Helsingin Sanomat at 9:00 a.m. 

Finnish Air Force Boeing F/A-18 Hornets, due to be replaced from this year by 64 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighters, were seen flying over Uusimaa and along the Helsinki coastline. The Finnish Defence Forces identified the expected target area as the corridor between Helsinki and Porvoo. 

Threat declared over 

At 7:06 a.m., the rescue authority announced that the threat had passed. Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on X that Finland did not face a “direct military threat,” while Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (National Coalition Party) confirmed that the Defence Forces had “intensified their own surveillance and prevention capabilities”. 

9 flights were diverted, including 2 x A350 to Rovaniemi. pic.twitter.com/qmtMsR79Cw— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) May 15, 2026

Regional context 

The incident extends a pattern of suspected Ukrainian drones straying into Baltic and Nordic airspace as Kyiv intensifies long-range strikes against Russian oil export infrastructure on the Gulf of Finland, including Primorsk and Ust-Luga. Kyiv has previously attributed the straying to Russian electronic warfare jamming.  

Latvia issued its own airspace warning overnight, in effect from 1:43 a.m. to 6:37 a.m. The Latvian governing coalition collapsed on May 14, 2026, amid divisions over the handling of recent drone incidentsThe post Finland scrambles F/A-18s as drone warning closes Helsinki-Vantaa Airport appeared first on AeroTime.

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