Flights temporarily suspended at Germany’s Hanover Airport

Germany’s Hanover airport temporarily suspended flights on Saturday after a man drove onto the apron area before police stopped his car before they detained him.

“Police checks of the vehicle have been completed, no dangerous objects were found. Hanover airport resumed operations at about 20:05 (1905 GMT),” Hanover police tweeted.

German news agency dpa reported that federal police said the man was in a Polish-registered car.

Authorities have not said if the incident is being treated as terrorism.

The Hannoversche Allgemeine newspaper reported that the man, who was in his mid-20s, was under the influence of drugs and was driving a silver BMW.

He drove through the perimeter fence and tried to pursue an Aegean Airlines plane that had just landed from Athens, the paper added. Police stopped him after several hundred metres, it said.

Takeoffs and landings were suspended around 3.30pm local time, while the incident was investigated, though the airport’s terminals remained open.

In a tweet translated from German, Hanover police said:

“A man had broken through a gate with a car and drove to the apron [tarmac]. Officers from the Federal Police were able to stop the car and overwhelm the man.”

The Hannover airport isn’t one of Germany’s major hubs.

It comes just over a week after hundreds of flights were cancelled at Gatwick Airport in London after drones were flown over the runway.