Condor Flight Diverted For Hours After Missing Munich Curfew by 10 Seconds

Passengers aboard Condor Flight 1513 earlier this month found their journey unexpectedly extended by eight hours after the aircraft missed Munich Airport’s strict midnight landing curfew—by just ten seconds.

The German airline’s Airbus A321 was on final approach with landing gear deployed when air traffic control denied clearance to land. Although the flight had been granted a special 30-minute extension for a 12:30 a.m. landing, it narrowly missed the cutoff, prompting an immediate diversion to Hahn Airport, 233 miles away.

The delay began at the origin: Palma de Mallorca Airport in Spain. Scheduled to depart at 8:35 p.m., the flight did not take off until 10:52 p.m.—12 minutes after its planned arrival time in Munich. While the extension gave Condor some leeway, it wasn’t enough to overcome the earlier delay.

Hahn Airport, located about 75 miles from Frankfurt and operating without a night curfew, accepted the flight. Condor 1513 landed there at 1:13 a.m., where passengers faced a long deplaning process. At around 3:00 a.m., they boarded a bus for a 90-minute ride to Frankfurt Airport. From there, Condor rebooked passengers on a 6:50 a.m. flight to Munich.

Ironically, the diverted Airbus A321 made it to Munich by 5:47 a.m.—over two hours before its passengers finally arrived at 8:00 a.m. Critics say Condor should have canceled the flight earlier and provided overnight accommodations, given the tight curfew window.

While Germany’s rigid aviation rules played a role, Condor’s scheduling decisions added to the chaos.


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Sources: AirGuide Business airguide.info, bing.com, yahoo.com