By Gunnar Schupelius
The airport building is protected like a high-security wing, but the airfield is not. This security gap must be closed immediately, says Gunnar Schupelius.
For the second time in 14 days, climate extremists managed to cut through the fence at the airport (BER) and get onto the airfield. All you need is a bolt cutter like you can buy at a hardware store.
On November 24, six intruders had even made it onto the tarmac and glued themselves there. At the second attempt last Thursday, only two made it, six were stopped by police officers who got to the scene much faster than two weeks earlier.
As police step up patrols at airport fences and airlines contemplate claims for damages, the crucial question never comes up: Why is it so easy to get onto the airport?
As already mentioned, the area is only delimited by a standard chain link fence, the wire of which is no thicker than in the allotment garden. There is barbed wire on top to prevent the fence from being climbed over.
This barbed wire is pointless because, as we have seen twice now, you don’t even have to climb over the fence, you can cut it open in a few seconds.
This ridiculous piece of chicken wire stands in odd contrast to the airport building itself, which is laid out like a maximum security wing. No one gets to the planes here unnoticed. But what good is this security if the fence outside is permeable?
There are fences that cannot be cut and cannot be climbed. Why aren’t they at the airport? Quite simply: because they are not mandatory.
The federal police are responsible for on-site security. Under the keyword “aviation security” the authority writes on its website: “The Federal Police takes the (…) necessary measures to protect against attacks on the security of civil air traffic. Here, in particular, aircraft hijacking and acts of sabotage must be prevented.” The “monitoring of the entire airfield site” is expressly mentioned.
But the federal police have no influence on what kind of fence is there, the Federal Ministry of the Interior has to take care of that. There it was previously assumed that wire mesh was sufficient. This is admitted internally, but not publicly.
As is so often the case, everyone only wakes up when a disaster strikes. Therefore, since September 11, 2001, the cockpit of every aircraft has been secured with an armored door that is locked after takeoff. That is why Breitscheidplatz has been barricaded with barriers since 2017.
Thank God no terrorist has tried to get onto the tarmac, luckily it was just the climate stickers. You have inadvertently exposed a scandalous vulnerability. This gap must be closed immediately before the next catastrophe occurs.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]