By Sandra Trauner Bauer, dpa
Frankfurt (dpa) – The partial evacuation of Frankfurt airport is over and “operations are in progress again,” Germany’s federal police said on Twitter on Tuesday after a police operation lasting several hours.
“Terminal evacuation at #Frankfurt #Airport is completed. The affected areas are open and operations are in progress again. Thanks to all passengers and airport staff for their understanding and disciplined behaviour!” police said.
Reza Ahmari, a spokesman for the airport, said Terminal 1 had been evacuated and boarding had been halted because there was “at least one unauthorized person in the security zone.”
Fraport, the company that operates the airport, said that operations had been halted from 11:30 am (0930 GMT) to 2:30 pm and that 49 of Tuesday’s approximately 1,500 scheduled flights had been cancelled as a result of the security measures.
A family from France prompted the police measures after at least one of the four family members entered a secure area without having completed security checks, a police spokeswoman said, adding that the family was currently being questioned.
The public was alerted to the incident when police said on Twitter that a police operation was ongoing “in area A of Terminal 1 at the #Frankfurt #airport … this includes an immediate boarding stop and clearing the security area in levels 2 and 3.”
Frankfurt airport is Germany’s busiest, with 64.5 million passengers counted in 2017.
Last month, police cleared and closed Terminal 2 and its satellite terminal at Munich airport after a 40-year-old woman slipped past security without being screened by personnel.
Nearly 330 flights were cancelled due to the incident, with over 32,000 passengers affected.
