NUREMBERG, GERMANY — Flight operations at Nuremberg Airport in southern Germany were temporarily suspended on Tuesday following a major security alert triggered by an unconfirmed in-flight emergency.
The disruption began when authorities received reports of a suspected aviation emergency involving a commercial flight heading toward the airport.According to reports and flight-tracking data, the aircraft (Corendon Airlines flight XR456, traveling from the Greek island of Corfu) was intercepted and accompanied to the runway by German Air Force Eurofighter jets.
The Boeing 737-8GP (registration 9H-CXD) landed safely at approximately 12:16 p.m. local time. However, because the exact nature of the initial threat remained unclear, airport authorities and local police enacted a strict lockdown protocol. The airport was cordoned off, special response units were deployed to the scene, and incoming flights scheduled for Nuremberg were temporarily diverted to alternative hubs including Munich, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart.
Police later confirmed that checks carried out on the aircraft and surrounding premises revealed no active danger or suspicious materials. “The aircraft in question is a scheduled flight from Corfu, which landed in Nuremberg as planned,” local police stated on X (formerly Twitter). “On-site inspections have determined that there is no danger. Investigations into the cause are currently underway.”
Tuesday’s tense midday shutdown compounded an already disrupted morning at Albrecht-Dürer Airport. Earlier in the day, between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., flight traffic experienced brief interruptions after three pilots reported seeing an unidentified object, suspected to be an unauthorized drone, near the airfield. Border police, drone-detection equipment, and a police helicopter were deployed for an extensive search, though no trace of a drone was recovered.
Authorities have not yet formally linked the early morning unidentified object sightings to the subsequent midday emergency landing, but investigations into both incidents remain ongoing. Normal operations at the airport are expected to resume progressively as security clearances are finalized.
UPDATE
Corendon Airlines confirmed that the hijacking signal was transmitted in error due to a radio system malfunction, reassuring the public that passengers were never in danger.
