The hostage taking in Hamburg has shown that security at some German airports needs to be improved. Transport Minister Wissing is now planning to punish intrusion into security areas as a criminal offense.
After last weekend’s hostage-taking in Hamburg, Transport Minister Volker Wissing wants to improve security at German airports. To achieve this, more must be done to deter such acts, he told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “The penalties for entering the security area of airports are too low. According to the current legal situation, this is only punished as an administrative offense with a fine of up to 10,000 euros.” That is a loophole in the law.
Together with Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP), he asked Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) to make a proposal for a change to the Aviation Security Act. “Anyone who intentionally encroaches on airport premises endangers people’s safety and causes significant economic damage. This must be prosecuted as a criminal offense in the future,” said Wissing. According to his idea, this would result in a prison sentence or “at least a hefty fine”. Wissing said Faeser responded that she would be happy to take up the initiative.
Wissing holds operators responsible
Wissing also called on the airport operators to review their security concepts. “In Hamburg, the hostage taker only had to break through a barrier to get onto the tarmac. That can’t be right.” What happened in Hamburg must be a reason for all airport operators to review their own security concepts and make adjustments if there are opportunities for improvement.
Last Saturday, a 35-year-old broke through the access restrictions to Hamburg Airport in a car and drove onto the airport apron. The background was a custody dispute: According to the public prosecutor’s office, the man wanted to use the action to force his daughter, who had previously been violently kidnapped from his ex-wife’s apartment in Stade (Lower Saxony), to leave the country for Turkey. Only after around 18 hours of negotiations did the hostage taker surrender to the security forces. In response, the head of the airport, Michael Eggenschwiler, announced on Tuesday structural measures to improve security.