Corendon flight escorted by Eurofighters after erroneously transmitting hijack code

Nuremberg Airport was forced to shut down and ground flights today after a Corendon flight from Corfu appeared to be in trouble.

The aircraft had transmitted the squawk code 7500, meaning hijacking, as it was partway into its trip. Eurofighter Typhoons were scrambled to intercept the flight and escort it down to the airport.

Police cordoned off the airport and prevented all takeoffs and landings for several hours while the threat was investigated.

Corendon later said that there had been no emergency and that the radio had gone faulty.

Corendon flight accidentally transmits hijack code

Corendon flight XR456 is a regularly scheduled service from Corfu (CFU) to Nuremberg (NUE), currently operating around three times per week. Today’s service was flown by an 11-year-old Boeing 737-800 registered 9H-CXD.

The flight took off as normal at just after 08:00 UTC for the approximately two-hour-long trip. But less than an hour into the journey, the aircraft began transmitting squawk code 7500, designed to alert air traffic control to a hijack situation.

Reportedly, controllers could not contact the pilots, so Eurofighter Typhoons were called up to locate the jet and escort it into the airport.

The aircraft landed safely just after 10:00 UTC, with no harm to passengers or crew.

Corendon has now issued a statement, which says that at around 09:00 UTC, the aircraft briefly transmitted the emergency code due to a malfunction in the radio communication system. It emphasised that no emergency occurred during the flight and clarified that the passengers, flight crew, and aircraft were never in danger.

Nuremberg Airport shuts down for several hours

Following the incident, security measures were implemented at Nuremberg Airport, with all flight operations temporarily suspended. Tensions were further heightened by reports of an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) in the vicinity of the airport in the early hours of the morning.

Just two months ago, another German airport, Leipzig/Halle Airport in Saxony, suffered two drone attacks. One included a drone carrying explosives, which was found near a Ukrainian cargo aircraft.

Nevertheless, following an extensive inspection at Nuremberg, authorities declared the site safe and reopened the airport at 14:00 UTC.

Although police have given the all-clear, ripple-effect disruptions continue at the airport after multiple inbound flights were diverted to other German hubs and departing flights were halted.