How safe are Germany's airports?

2023-11-07 14:33:46, Blog CNA

On Sunday, a 35-year-old man turned himself in to police after holding his four-year-old daughter in a car at Hamburg Airport for eighteen hours. The health condition of the little girl is "unharmed", as the authorities announced. Earlier, he drove onto the airport runway and stood next to the plane. He was armed. The entire airport was blocked for hours, while thousands of people were left without scheduled and paid flights.

This drama fueled numerous debates about security at German airports. Unlike other countries, where there are bollards that can be lowered or raised on the road and prevent cars from entering, in Hamburg the hijacker apparently had only red and white ramps in front of him as an obstacle on his way to the highly secured area .

And this is not the first time that unauthorized persons infiltrate the airport area. Last summer, "Last Generation" activists cut down the metal fence and inserted it into the track.

The authorities say that there were no concessions

The airport management does not see any possible concessions: "The security of the airport area is in accordance with the legal provisions, and even goes beyond this," a spokeswoman told DPA.

She added that in such a large airport, which has an area of ??approximately 800 football fields, it cannot be excluded that "any serious criminal enters the secured area".

This spokeswoman added that there is an alarm system for such situations, "which is activated without fail".

As she added, after the protest of climate activists, the number of patrols near the airport fence has increased, while new cameras and sensors are being tested.

She said nothing about ramps that can be easily crossed: "Please understand, we do not provide more detailed information about our safety concept."

Outdated rules

Andreas Roskopf, head of the Police Union, was asked by the first German program ARD, if the security concept at Hamburg airport is up to par?

"We have an urgent need to create a security concept that corresponds to today's situation," answers Roskopf. He adds that he does not even dare to think what could have happened if it were a question of terrorism.

How safe are Germany's airports?

Roskopf points out that today's airport security standards also mean surveillance cameras and motion detectors in sensitive areas: "On the approach roads we have to work with barriers and obstacles that at least an ordinary car cannot pass."

He says that the risk is increasing in this area in Germany. But it points out that airports operate under current security regulations.

"The Legislature should adopt very clear regulations in this area, so that airports are forced to put these safeguards in place and that the exposure to the risk we currently have is as low as possible.

"mother or stepmother"

The professor at the Police Academy, Raphfael Beer, as well as the vice president of the German Police Union, Heiko Tagaz, call for better airport protection. "It is difficult to understand that even Christmas fairs are secured with concrete barricades, while airport companies have a step-like relationship, in strictly protected areas," Tagaz told the dpa news agency.

How safe are Germany's airports?

The professor told NDR that the concept of security must definitely be reviewed. "I cannot understand that the airport company is now hiding behind legal provisions that do not provide for stricter measures."

He says that meeting legal obligations is an important issue. "But if we look at the world around us, we see that attackers don't care which regulations are followed and which aren't. Simply put, that part of the traffic needs to be better protected. That's why all of this inevitably has to to be reconsidered".

Other airports are not safe either

Aviation expert Heinrich Grosbongart previously worked for Lufthansa, Boeing and the Cockpit pilots' union. His assessment is alarming. "Hamburg airport is not safe – but neither are other German airports," he told Spiegel.

According to him, this is scandalous because airports "have been known for decades as the favorite targets of terrorists. Airplanes with tens of thousands of liters of kerosene and hundreds of passengers are waiting to take off. Because of all this, Grosbongart calls the airport administration and institutions "to incomprehensible and naive"./ DW