Frankfurt, Germany’s busiest airport, was forced to halt flights at the start of operations on Thursday after climate activists evaded security, reported cutting through a fence and glued themselves to various points on the airfield.
At least 50 inbound flights were diverted away to other airports, some to other countries, until the airport reopened at 7.50am local time. Dozens of flights have been cancelled and disruption is likely for the rest of what would normally be an extremely busy day at one of Europe’s top four airports.
As with a similar incident at Cologne-Bonn airport on Wednesday, the protest was mounted by the Letzte Generation (Last Generation) climate group – which is demanding the German government phases out the use of fossil fuel. The activists held posters reading “Oil kills”.
The first wave of arrivals from North America were diverted, with the Boeing 747 operating Lufthansa flight LH401 holding short of Frankfurt for about an hour before diverting north to Cologne.
Other flights were diverted to Stuttgart, Dusseldorf and Munich in Germany, with some landing in Brussels, Luxembourg and Vienna – the last one being the destination for Emirates EK43 from Dubai.
Getting aircraft back where they need to be will involve burning hundreds of tons of additional fuel.
At least four Lufthansa departures from Frankfurt to London Heathrow were grounded, which will make life difficult for travellers who were planning to fly from Heathrow to Frankfurt for onward connections.
Other flights, including British Airways to Heathrow, were delayed by two hours or more.
One passenger, under the username Michael1201, asked on X/Twitter:
“How can you allow these terrorists to enter the restricted area? After yesterday’s experience in Cologne you should have been prepared.” The airport responded: “Hi Michael, may we ask you to send any questions you have about security at the airport to the Federal Police?”
Under European air passengers’ rights rules, travellers are entitled to be flown to their destination as soon as possible.