New Security Scanners Fail on Day One at Cologne/Bonn Airport, Grounding Flights for Hours

At 6:37 a.m. on Friday, security screeners at Cologne/Bonn Airport shut down the passenger checkpoint and federal police ordered Terminals 1 and 2 evacuated after newly installed scanning technology allowed a flagged bag to slip past inspection and back to its owner Germany: Security alert halts flights at Cologne/Bonn airportdw.com·SecondaryFlight operations at Cologne/Bonn Airport were briefly suspended on Friday after a security incident. Federal police said departures had to be suspended, before being resumed a short time later, because the secure area needed to be closed off. Arrivals were not affected by the closure and were able to continue as normal. A spokesperson said the security screening checkpoint was shut at 6:37 a.m., and Terminal 1 and 2 security zones were cleared as a precautionary measure.. The incident forced a complete halt to departures for roughly two and a half hours, grounding about a dozen flights and sending hundreds of passengers back into the terminal concourse on a morning already strained by the aftermath of Thursday's nationwide Lufthansa strike.

The security breakdown was particularly striking because it occurred on the very first full day of operation for the new screening equipment. Staff operating the system spotted items in a piece of hand luggage that monitors flagged as potentially dangerous, according to reporting by German public broadcaster WDR Germany: Security alert halts flights at Cologne/Bonn airportdw.com·SecondaryFlight operations at Cologne/Bonn Airport were briefly suspended on Friday after a security incident. Federal police said departures had to be suspended, before being resumed a short time later, because the secure area needed to be closed off. Arrivals were not affected by the closure and were able to continue as normal. A spokesperson said the security screening checkpoint was shut at 6:37 a.m., and Terminal 1 and 2 security zones were cleared as a precautionary measure.. Under standard procedure, the bag should have been automatically diverted to a separate conveyor belt for closer manual examination by trained security personnel. Instead, a malfunction or operator error sent it back along the main belt to the unidentified passenger, who collected it and disappeared into the secure airside zone beyond the checkpoint Germany: Security alert halts flight at Cologne/Bonn airportdw.com·SecondaryFlight operations at Cologne/Bonn Airport were briefly suspended on Friday after a security incident. Federal police said departures had to be suspended, before being resumed a short time later, because the secure area needed to be closed off. Arrivals were not affected by the closure and were able to continue as normal. A spokesperson said the security screening checkpoint was shut at 6:37 a.m., and Terminal 1 and 2 security zones were cleared as a precautionary measure..

Federal police responded immediately, launching a search for the passenger and the luggage while sealing the entire security perimeter. Both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 security zones were cleared as a precautionary measure Germany: Security alert halts flights at Cologne/Bonn airportdw.com·SecondaryFlight operations at Cologne/Bonn Airport were briefly suspended on Friday after a security incident. Federal police said departures had to be suspended, before being resumed a short time later, because the secure area needed to be closed off. Arrivals were not affected by the closure and were able to continue as normal. A spokesperson said the security screening checkpoint was shut at 6:37 a.m., and Terminal 1 and 2 security zones were cleared as a precautionary measure.. A police spokesperson told reporters there was no immediate danger to the life or safety of passengers or staff but declined to provide further details about the nature of the flagged items or the circumstances of the system failure while the investigation was ongoing Germany: Security alert halts flight at Cologne/Bonn airportdw.com·SecondaryFlight operations at Cologne/Bonn Airport were briefly suspended on Friday after a security incident. Federal police said departures had to be suspended, before being resumed a short time later, because the secure area needed to be closed off. Arrivals were not affected by the closure and were able to continue as normal. A spokesperson said the security screening checkpoint was shut at 6:37 a.m., and Terminal 1 and 2 security zones were cleared as a precautionary measure.. Arrivals continued to land normally throughout the closure and were not affected by the security lockdown.

The airport reopened in the late morning after federal police completed their sweep of the secure zone. A federal police spokesperson confirmed that all passengers in the airside area were being rescreened before being allowed to continue their journeys Germany: Security alert halts flight at Cologne/Bonn airportdw.com·SecondaryFlight operations at Cologne/Bonn Airport were briefly suspended on Friday after a security incident. Federal police said departures had to be suspended, before being resumed a short time later, because the secure area needed to be closed off. Arrivals were not affected by the closure and were able to continue as normal. A spokesperson said the security screening checkpoint was shut at 6:37 a.m., and Terminal 1 and 2 security zones were cleared as a precautionary measure.. An airport spokesperson said departures had been impossible for approximately two and a half hours, affecting about a dozen flights. Those flights were expected to depart with significant delays, though no outright cancellations had been reported by midday Germany: Security alert halts flights at Cologne/Bonn airportdw.com·SecondaryFlight operations at Cologne/Bonn Airport were briefly suspended on Friday after a security incident. Federal police said departures had to be suspended, before being resumed a short time later, because the secure area needed to be closed off. Arrivals were not affected by the closure and were able to continue as normal. A spokesperson said the security screening checkpoint was shut at 6:37 a.m., and Terminal 1 and 2 security zones were cleared as a precautionary measure.. Passengers described scenes of confusion in the terminal, with long queues forming as the reopened checkpoints processed travellers who had been waiting since early morning alongside newly arriving passengers.

The timing could hardly have been worse for German aviation. Just one day earlier, on Thursday, an all-day strike by Lufthansa pilots and cabin crew had forced hundreds of flight cancellations across the country, stranding thousands of travellers at airports from Munich to Hamburg. The back-to-back disruptions underscored the fragility of airport operations at a time when carriers and ground handling companies are under simultaneous pressure to modernise ageing infrastructure, implement new European Union security regulations, and maintain seamless passenger service in the face of rising traffic volumes.

The introduction of new security technology at Cologne/Bonn was part of a broader rollout across German and European airports aimed at speeding up passenger throughput and improving threat detection capabilities. Airports across the continent have been phasing in computed tomography (CT) based cabin baggage scanners that produce detailed three-dimensional images of bag contents, allowing passengers to leave liquids and laptops inside their hand luggage rather than removing them for separate screening. The European Commission has been pushing member states to adopt the technology as part of updated aviation security standards, arguing that it reduces queue times and improves detection rates for prohibited items.

However, the transition has not been without challenges. Airport operators and security companies have raised concerns about the cost of the new equipment, the need for extensive retraining of screening staff, and the risk of teething problems during the switchover period. Friday's incident at Cologne/Bonn appeared to validate those concerns in dramatic fashion. Whether the failure was caused by a software glitch in the new scanning system, a hardware malfunction in the conveyor routing mechanism, or an operator error by staff unfamiliar with the new interface remained unclear as of Friday afternoon Germany: Security alert halts flight at Cologne/Bonn airportdw.com·SecondaryFlight operations at Cologne/Bonn Airport were briefly suspended on Friday after a security incident. Federal police said departures had to be suspended, before being resumed a short time later, because the secure area needed to be closed off. Arrivals were not affected by the closure and were able to continue as normal. A spokesperson said the security screening checkpoint was shut at 6:37 a.m., and Terminal 1 and 2 security zones were cleared as a precautionary measure..

Federal police said they were still investigating the precise cause of the failure and had not yet identified the passenger who left with the flagged bag Germany: Security alert halts flights at Cologne/Bonn airportdw.com·SecondaryFlight operations at Cologne/Bonn Airport were briefly suspended on Friday after a security incident. Federal police said departures had to be suspended, before being resumed a short time later, because the secure area needed to be closed off. Arrivals were not affected by the closure and were able to continue as normal. A spokesperson said the security screening checkpoint was shut at 6:37 a.m., and Terminal 1 and 2 security zones were cleared as a precautionary measure.. It remained unclear whether the items inside ultimately posed a genuine security threat or were false positives generated by the unfamiliar equipment. Authorities indicated they would release further information once the investigation had progressed sufficiently.

Airport management urged passengers booked on afternoon and evening flights to check their airline apps for updated departure times and to allow extra time for security screening, which was operating at reduced capacity while investigators continued their work in parts of the terminal. The incident is likely to prompt a review of the deployment timeline for the new screening systems at Cologne/Bonn and potentially at other German airports planning similar upgrades in the coming months.