NUREMBERG, Germany — Nuremberg Airport (NUE) resumed flight operations around 13:25 local time Tuesday, October 13, 2026, after an emergency alert involving a Corendon Airlines Europe (XR) flight from Corfu prompted a military escort and a police security response.
Police said the passenger aircraft inadvertently transmitted a transponder code signaling a hijacking and was temporarily unreachable by radio. The initially unclear situation prompted military launches elsewhere in Europe before two German military aircraft accompanied the flight to Nuremberg.
The aircraft landed safely around 12:15 local time. Police checks found no evidence of an actual threat, and passengers could leave the aircraft from 13:25. Arrivals and departures had been suspended during the response, with inbound flights diverted to other airports. Access roads reopened around 13:30, police said. All times are Central European Summer Time.
The dpa news agency identified the signal as transponder code 7500 and reported that German Eurofighters escorted the aircraft.
Corendon attributed the alert on flight XR456 to a brief interruption of its radio communications system in Croatian airspace, according to HavaHaber's reporting of the airline's statement. The carrier said passengers, crew and the aircraft were never in danger. That is the airline's account of the technical issue; the police bulletin does not identify its cause.
Earlier Possible-Drone Reports
Earlier Tuesday, the airport experienced a separate disruption following reports of a possible drone. In its notice describing the morning disruption, the airport said two arriving flights diverted to Cologne and Prague before continuing to Nuremberg. Six flights were delayed: two arrivals and four departures.
The airport said police had searched for the suspected drone but had not confirmed a sighting. Those delay and diversion figures concern the earlier event; they do not establish the impact of the midday emergency response.
Feature image: Carsten Steger/Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
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