The man drove into the airport grounds on Saturday and stopped near a Turkish Airlines plane. According to German media, he demanded that he be flown to Turkey with his child. A custody dispute is probably the cause of the hostage situation.
The police negotiated with the man in Turkish for 18 hours. German security services assumed that the man had a loaded firearm and possibly also explosives of an unknown type. Protecting the child was therefore the top priority for the police.
Police believe that the father forcibly took his four-year-old daughter before driving to Hamburg and entering the airport grounds just after 8 p.m. There he allegedly shot several times into the air and threw burning bottles out of the car, the German newspaper said Bild. As far as we know, no injuries were reported.
The plane under which the man had parked his car was evacuated. Air traffic was stopped and the airport was also completely evacuated. The hostage situation affected thousands of passengers. Flights had to be canceled and diverted. Travelers were asked not to come to the airport. The airport had 286 flights scheduled for Sunday with around 34,500 passengers. The airport announced on X that it will do everything in its power to resume air traffic “as quickly as possible”.
+++UPDATE 2:30 p.m.+++
The police action has ended. Preparations are underway to resume flight operations as quickly as possible. We are in close coordination with the security forces as to when the access roads and terminals will be reopened. pic.twitter.com/5Xw1koVSBs— Hamburg Airport 🕊 (@HamburgAirport) 5 november 2023
Safety requirements
A spokeswoman for Hamburg Airport says the airport meets all legal safety requirements. The airport has an area of almost 800 football fields. This means that the site is vulnerable to malicious parties who are prepared to break through the fence with considerable force, the spokeswoman said.
She emphasizes that there is a well-functioning safety system. Air traffic would also have been immediately stopped during the hostage situation. The airport would not be able to provide any further detailed information about security measures.
