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View of Hamburg Airport: The operator is currently testing new camera and fence sensor systems
Photo: FABIAN BIMMER / REUTERS
At Hamburg Airport, an armed man broke through a barrier with his car on Saturday evening and drove across the apron to a Turkish Airlines plane. There he held his four-year-old daughter, only on Sunday afternoon the hostage-taking ended - according to the police, the perpetrator was arrested without resistance.
The case raises questions about security precautions at the airport, but the operator did not see any omissions in an initial statement on Sunday morning.
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The situation on the ground: Hostage-taker is said to have firearms and possibly explosive devices with him
"The security of the site complies with all legal requirements and exceeds them for the most part," said a spokeswoman. Nevertheless, given the size of the airport – which corresponds to almost 800 football pitches – it cannot be ruled out "that highly criminal, unauthorised access to the security area can take place with brute force".
The spokeswoman said: "In order to ensure the safety of air traffic, alarm chains have been established in addition to structural measures, which have worked perfectly." Flight operations were stopped immediately after the unauthorized access and the perpetrator was located.
As recently as July, climate activists from the group Last Generation paralyzed Hamburg Airport for hours by pushing onto the tarmac. An analysis of the incident did not bring any new findings, said the spokeswoman of the airport. "There are no new requirements for critical infrastructure facilities yet."
The airport is currently testing new camera and fence sensor systems. "In addition, the patrol of the fence by security forces has been sustainably increased." The activists had cut through the outer fence and then entered the compound on bicycles. At the time, there had been calls for security to be strengthened.
Police call for drastic increase in security standards
The deputy federal chairman of the German Police Union (DPolG), Heiko Teggatz, is now also emphatically calling for better protection of airports: "It is difficult to convey that Christmas markets, for example, are secured with concrete barricades, and our airports are neglected by operators as high-security areas," said Teggatz. Politicians are doing too little to force operators to provide more protection.
"I also miss an initiative from Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser," said Teggatz. "Obviously, no one is seriously forcing airport operators to ramp up security measures to such an extent that such incidents simply cannot occur again." When climate activists blocked several German airports, he warned that the quality, height and strength of the fences were inadequate.
"I expect the lesson to be learned from the current incident that this will now be looked at closely and standards will be drastically raised," Teggatz stressed. It should be possible to impose sanctions on airport operators if the safety regulations are not complied with under the new law on the better protection of critical infrastructure.
abl/dpa