GPS interference reported on multiple flights over Swedish airspace

Several commercial flights reported GPS interference over Swedish airspace within a 24-hour period, according to accounts of the incidents.

On Thursday, a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Helsinki hit sudden navigation anomalies while cruising over southern Sweden. The crew contacted maintenance control in flight and asked for a full system reset to clear avionics errors that followed persistent loss of satellite signals. Early the next morning, an Air Canada flight from New Delhi to Toronto reported similar jamming as it passed through Swedish airspace. Both aircraft continued their routes and operated safely, with crews relying on backup navigation systems and ground assistance.

GPS jamming happens when ground-based transmitters broadcast high-power noise on the same frequency bands used by satellite navigation systems. Satellite signals arrive at an aircraft extremely weak after travelling thousands of miles. Even a relatively low-power jammer on the ground can overwhelm them and blind the aircraft's receivers.

Jamming does not damage an aircraft or cause it to lose altitude. It does disable automated navigation functions, set off nuisance cockpit alerts, and push pilots to fall back on ground-based radio beacons or onboard inertial systems. Regulators continue to track the rising frequency of electronic interference along busy European flight corridors.