Hamburg Airport Reopens After Hostage Standoff

Hamburg Airport, the fifth-busiest airport in Germany and the main hub for the country’s second-largest city, was back to normal operations on Sunday after closing due to a hostage standoff.

According to German police, the entrances and terminals of the airport were closed to all passengers after a 35-year-old man drove his vehicle through the airport gates on Saturday night. The police said that the man had his four-year-old daughter in the car and was in the middle of a custody dispute.

The man reportedly parked the car under a Turkish Airlines plane, shot a weapon twice in the air, and threw burning bottles from the car. The plane, which was boarded and readying to take off, had to be evacuated.

German police said that the man eventually gave himself up with zero resistance and the child was rescued and was unharmed. However, the incident, the second major security incident at Hamburg Airport in the past four months, caused several flights to be delayed—almost 25% of all departures and 16% of all arrivals on Saturday were delayed, according to FlightAware.

Hamburg Airport said that things should be back to normal on Monday, though there could also still be some lasting effects from the weekend’s incident. All passengers should check with their airline before heading to the airport.

“Hamburg Airport expects flight operations to be largely normal on Monday, November 6th. Some flights may still be canceled or delayed. We therefore ask you to keep yourself updated about your current flight status,” the airport said in a statement on social media.