Free Republic

For the second year in a row, the number of passengers on German domestic flights has declined, according to data from the German Airports Association (ADV), as reported by the news service Tagesschau on Saturday. The number of domestic passengers in 2019 fell by 1.9% from the year before to 47.1 million. In 2018, passenger figures fell by 0.8% Figures have dropped continually since August last year, the association said. The number of passengers on domestic flights in 2019 was just 1% greater than the figure from a decade ago. […] The ADV said the drop in passengers was not...

Police have arrested the head of airport security at Namibia's main airport on charges he planted a dummy explosive device in luggage destined for a German flight earlier this week, Germany's interior ministry said yesterday. Citing Namibian authorities, an interior ministry spokesman said the man was arrested for having placed a bag containing a simulated detonator on a luggage conveyor belt, and that he had admitted to doing so. -snip- "The suspect was identified using CCTV footage. On the footage the suspect was seen handling the parcel," he said. "We do not know if the suspect was working alone or...

Police in Namibia have intercepted a suspicious object with a detonator and a running clock in luggage on an Air Berlin plane en route from the country's capital, Windhoek to Munich. Germany's Federal Crime Office (BKA) said it was not clear if the object found during loading of the Airbus jet yesterday was an ignitable explosive. Germany stepped up security measures after saying it had received intelligence pointing to a planned attack in the country towards the end of this month. Security was stepped up at potential targets such as train stations and airports.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -- Air Berlin, Germany's No. 2 airline, said on Tuesday it would order 60 Boeing 737-800 jets. The airline said 85 planes would be delivered between 2007 and 2014, adding that of those planes 25 would be for its subsidiary DBA, which it bought in August.