Hamburg Airport is closed following the nearby discovery of a World War Two bomb. As a result, no flights are landing or departing. This has led to those aircraft already in the air holding or diverting to other airports such as Hannover.Those looking to get away from Hamburg Airport tonight are unfortunately out of luck. Following the discovery of an unexploded bomb near the airport, all flights have been suspended out of an abundance of caution. This has meant that aircraft currently in the air are unable to land, and those on the ground cannot commence their journeys.

Unexploded world war 2 bomb

The disruption is being caused by an unexploded World War Two bomb that has been discovered near Hamburg Airport. Jens Wehner is a historian at the Dresden military museum. In June of this year, he told citylab.com that between 1.3-1.4 million bombs have been dropped on Germany during World War Two. Of these, it is estimated that around 10% did not detonate when they were dropped.

As a result, they crop up in the landscape of Germany from time to time. Occasionally, as is the case today, due to the size or the location of an unexploded bomb, it can have a significant impact. For example, in April parts of Frankfurt had to be evacuated while an unexploded bomb was taken care of in the city's river. The detonation caused an impressive tower of water to shoot into the air.

Hamburg disruption

So, back to the disruption in Hamburg. A World War Two bomb was today discovered in the town of Niendorf. The Hamburg police force originally tweeted about the incident at 18:44. The bomb was found fairly close to Hamburg Airport. However, it does not appear to directly line up with any of the airport's runways. The measure has likely been taken to close the airport out of an abundance of caution. After all, it is better to be safe today than sorry tomorrow!

The unexploded bomb is causing some significant disruption to flights due to land at or depart from Hamburg Airport. According to FlightRadar24, so far a total of 14 flights have diverted. Lufthansa's Frankfurt flights returned to their origin, while Emirates' Dubai flight diverted to Copenhagen. Meanwhile, the remaining flights appeared to divert to Bremen and Hannover.

A number of flights to and from the airport have also been canceled. If you are due to travel tonight, you should check the status of your flight with your airline. Simple Flying reached out to representatives of Hamburg Airport, however, we were yet to hear back at the time of publishing.

Have you been affected by the unexploded bomb's discovery? Let us know your experience in the comments!