Berlin Brandenburg Airport Terminal 1 Reopens After Security Scare Evacuation

Terminal 1 at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) was reopened on Thursday evening following an earlier evacuation due to a security scare.

"The police operation has ended," said an airport spokeswoman.

Federal police, responsible for transportation security in Germany, had evacuated BER Terminal 1 at around 5:45 p.m. after a woman reportedly told security staff at a service point that she had a dangerous substance in her luggage.

"A potential threat from the unidentified substance could not be ruled out," the police spokesperson told the dpa news agency.

Police then gave the all-clear at around 8:45 p.m. and confirmed that nobody had been in danger at any point.

Police initially provided no information as to the nature of the substance in question, with analysis results expected in the coming days.

Berlin: BER operations remain restricted

Despite the all-clear, operations at BER remained restricted on Thursday evening.

"Due to the police operation, we will still be experiencing delays and some cancelations until the end of the day," said the airport spokeswoman.

She advised travelers to double-check the status of their flight before arriving at BER and to keep an eye on the boards while at the airport.

"Flights were not stopped," she insisted, emphasizing that there were only delays.

"Regular operations will resume on Friday."

What did the airport say about departures and arrivals?

The airport had confirmed the incident itself earlier on Thursday but said planes that were already prepared to depart could take off as normal and incoming arrivals could also continue to land.

Passenger processing was "relocated to Terminal 2 to the extent that it's possible," a spokesperson said.

Many but not all flights departing Terminal 1 from around 7 p.m. local time were marked as delayed on the airport's website.

An airport press officer told DW that around 30 flights had been delayed but that they were trying to avoid cancellations by redirecting departures to Terminal 2.

Trains were also impacted by the operation for a time. The city's S-Bahn train service confirmed disruptions on both lines to airport, while Deutsche Bahn also reported widespread disruptions to regional trains.

BER or the "Willy Brandt Airport" in Schönefeld is Berlin's busiest and Germany's third-busiest airport since it opened in 2020. It also serves as the primary airport for many federal government flights. Some 26 million passengers travel through it each year.

The last comparable security disruption at the airport was in March of this year, when flights were disrupted but because of a potentially suspicious aerial object rather than a suspicious item in the terminal.

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Edited by: Zac Crellin, Dmytro Hubenko