An All Nippon Airways flight from Tokyo to Frankfurt was forced to abort its landing less than one minute before the end Airport’s curfew.
ANA Flight NH203, from Tokyo Haneda, arrived ahead of schedule (05:20 CEST) on July 3, 2025, almost 45 minutes early due to favorable winds.
As it approached Frankfurt Airport , where landings are prohibited between 23:00 and 05:00, air traffic controllers were very strict, too strict?
At 04:59 (less than one minute before the curfew lifted) the tower instructed the pilots of the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (registration JA933A) to perform a mandatory go-around.
Ironically, the go-around generated more noise than a direct landing would have, added 16 minutes to the flight, burned an additional 1,900 kilograms of fuel and increased CO₂ emissions.
In a very similar situation in Germany: on June 2, 2025, a Condor flight DE1513 from Palma de Mallorca to Munich was denied landing because it missed airport’s curfew by a few seconds. The flight was forced to divert to Hahn Airport, about 375 km away.
