“Opened again”
Hamburg Airport resumes operations
November 5th, 2023, 5:50 p.m
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Traffic has been at a standstill since the hostage crisis began at Hamburg Airport. With the perpetrator given up, the airport wants to quickly return to normal operations. The first plane lands in the evening. Air traffic is starting up again.
After the end of the hostage-taking at Hamburg Airport, flight operations started again. “The airport has reopened,” said an airport spokesman. According to the website flightradar24.com, the first aircraft to land was a Eurowings plane from Hanover. Further take-offs and landings are to follow. However, cancellations and disruptions to the process are still to be expected, said the spokesman. Passengers were asked to check their flight status and contact the relevant airline if necessary.
Shortly after the end of the 18-hour hostage-taking on the apron, the spokeswoman said that preparations were underway to resume flight operations as quickly as possible. The airport is in close coordination with the security forces as to when the access roads and terminals will be reopened. Nevertheless, there are still significant cancellations and delays. “Please keep an eye on your flight status and contact your airline if necessary,” she had said.
The evening before, a 35-year-old drove onto the airfield with his daughter, who had been taken hostage, in his car. After 18 hours, he allowed himself to be arrested by the police in the afternoon without resistance. The child appears to be doing well so far, they said. The background to the action was probably a custody dispute.
According to information from the airport on Sunday morning, 126 flights had already been canceled by 11 a.m. since operations actually began at 6 a.m. alone. Five arrivals were redirected to other airports. There are actually 286 flights planned for the entire day – 139 departures and 147 arrivals – with around 34,500 passengers. Already on Saturday, 27 flights with around 3,200 passengers were affected.