Safety incident at Rotterdam Airport: man rams through entrance barriers with his car – One flight diverted

Wednesday night (27 December), in a bizarre incident, a 52-year-old man breached security at Rotterdam The Hague Airport by ramming through barriers and an entrance gate with his car, prompting a diversion of a Barcelona-bound flight to Schiphol Airport.

Eyewitnesses reported the man initially knocking over security barriers before crashing into the airport’s gate with a Mercedes. Subsequently, he entered the airport grounds and hid on the runway, leading to a brief disruption in air traffic. Transavia flight HV6062 from Barcelona (Boeing 737-800 reg. PH-HZL) circled for 20 minutes before diverting to Amsterdam Schiphol. It repositioned to Rotterdam the next morning.

The man, found by authorities after a search, was arrested and taken to the hospital for treatment and evaluation of his mental state. Investigations into the motive behind the intrusion are ongoing, with authorities considering the possibility of the man being confused rather than having a terrorist motive.

The damaged barriers and fence require replacement, but the incident did not cause further disruption to scheduled flights.