Chinese drone seen at Matsu Nangan Airport, disrupts 2 flights

Taipei, July 2 (CNA) A Chinese drone was detected for the first time near Nangan Airport on the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands and disrupted two flights Tuesday morning, according to airport director Weng Ting-huang (翁丁煌).

Weng said the control tower received notification from the Republic of China Army Matsu Defense Command that a Chinese drone was seen five nautical miles (around 9.3 kilometers) from Nangan Airport at around 9 a.m.

The tower immediately notified a UNI Air aircraft approaching the airport of the drone's presence which delayed its landing.

The drone hovered near the airport for about 20 minutes before it left, after which the UNI Air plane was given the green light to land, 30 minutes behind schedule. A second UNI Air flight scheduled to depart later was also delayed, Weng said.

Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) Deputy Director General Lin Jiunn-liang (林俊良) said the CAA has set up drone detection systems at Taipei Songshan Airport and Kaohsiung International Airport, which can detect and intercept drones in advance.

No such systems are installed at Matsu's airports, he said, however, the current systems would still have difficulty detecting drones 10 kilometers away.