Flights were halted at the Munich airport for nearly two hours on Sunday evening after workers reported the smell of smoke in the control tower, an airport spokesman told AFP.

The tower was evacuated as a precaution and take-offs and landings were stopped from 8:33 pm (1833 GMT), the spokesman said.

Flights resumed at 10:15 pm, the airport told AFP, although a notice on its website said that delays may continue.

"The smell was detected because of a technical malfunction. The problem has been solved," a Munich airport spokesman told AFP.

Munich is Germany's second-busiest airport after Frankfurt.

A spokeswoman for Germany's air-traffic control operations, Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS), said the late shift had been called in early to staff a backup tower at the airport.

Source: AFP