Due to a threat of attack on a plane from Tehran to Hamburg, the Hanseatic city’s airport was completely shut down for around an hour and a half on Monday. There were neither take-offs nor landings, said an airport spokeswoman for the German Press Agency. As a result, several flights would have had to be diverted to Hanover, for example.
A spokesman for the Federal Police told the dpa that an email was received in the morning with the threat of an attack, which was taken very seriously. However, the spokesman said nothing about the background to the threat. The Hamburg interior authority also did not comment, referring to the federal police.
Two Eurofighters accompany the plane
According to the airport’s homepage, flight IR 723, which had taken off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport and was expected in Hamburg at 11:45 a.m., was affected by the threat of attack. According to the Air Force, the aircraft was accompanied in German airspace by two Eurofighter jets.
“This morning our alarm squad from Laage was activated,” the Air Force announced on the X platform (formerly Twitter). The plane “was accompanied by us – after a bomb threat – after entering German airspace east of Berlin until it landed in Hamburg.”
According to the Federal Police, the Iran Air plane landed in Hamburg at around 12:20 p.m. and was parked in a special area of ??the airport. The airport fire department and several ambulances were already standing by.
The 198 passengers and 16 crew members were able to leave the aircraft normally. They were taken by bus – each accompanied by a police vehicle – to a separate area and subjected to a security check. According to the information, the plane and luggage should also be searched. Dogs were also used.
Several planes have now been diverted to Hanover and Bremen. Five planes landed in the Lower Saxony state capital instead, said an airport spokeswoman in Hanover when asked by the dpa.
There may still be delays
Flight operations were completely stopped at around 12:40 p.m. and did not start again until around 2:00 p.m. “Flight operations have resumed,” it said on the airport’s homepage. However, flight delays could still occur.
The information boards at the airport still showed delays for departures and arrivals that were scheduled for the afternoon. Both domestic flights and flights to and from abroad were affected.
