One Mile At A Time shares about the latest airport curfew drama, this time involving a Condor flight bound for Munich that arrived 10 seconds too late, leading to a diversion and an eight-hour delay. Was that diversion reasonable? Are airport curfews reasonable in general?

Ten Seconds Too Late: Condor A321 Forced to Divert From Munich Airport After Missing Curfew

Let’s look at what happened to a Condor flight on Monday, June 2, 2025:

• Condor flight DE1513 was scheduled to operate from Palma de Mallorca (PMI) to Munich (MUC) using an Airbus A321 (registration D-ATCA).
• The flight was planned to depart at 8:35 pm and arrive in Munich at 10:40 pm.
• Due to delays, primarily from the inbound aircraft, the flight departed Palma de Mallorca at 10:52 pm, over two hours late.
• Munich Airport has a standard curfew at midnight, with possible extensions until 12:30 am under certain circumstances.
• Condor secured an extension to land by 12:30 am.
• The aircraft made good time and began its approach to runway 8R in Munich. However, the pilots had to discontinue the approach because they missed the extended curfew by approximately 10 seconds.
• Denied landing in Munich, the flight was diverted to Hahn Airport (HHN), approximately 233 miles away, landing there at 1:13 am.
• Passengers deplaned at Hahn and collected their luggage.
• Around 3:00 am, they were bused to Frankfurt Airport (FRA), arriving at approximately 4:30 am.
• At 6:50 am, passengers boarded another Condor flight from Frankfurt to Munich, arriving around 8:00 am.
• Passengers, originally scheduled to arrive in Munich at 10:40 pm, reached their destination over nine hours late, enduring an overnight journey without rest.
• The original Airbus A321 was flown from Hahn to Munich at 5:47 am, arriving at 6:29 am, ahead of the passengers.

Was all of this drama really necessary?

On The Matter Of Airport Curfews

I’m not in favor of airprot curfews, period. I realize those who live near airports hold a very different opinion and I realize that curfews are a practical and pragmatic approach to balancing the rights of residents with the commercial interests of a nation and locality in promoting passenger and cargo air travel.

But what happened here was unacceptable: we cannot separate the facts of every particular diversion from blindly enforcing the general rule. Every story matters.

I realize that airlines “cut it close” when delays occur, but I can’t point to anything Condor did wrong here other than not flying fast enough to reach MUC. The alternative (diversion to HHN, followed by an overnight bus ride) was far worse than annoying residents with a landing that was 10 seconds too late.

If “exceptions” are made every time, is the curfew worthless? No, I don’t think so. Because here we are talking about a landing at 00:30:10 instead of 00:30…

Of course, a 10-second exception could quickly become grounds for a 10-minute exception, which could be grounds for a 1-hour exception…I do appreciate that argument.

But I believe that if you choose to live near an airport, you have no reasonable expectation of silence, whether during the day or night. Munich’s current airport opened on May 17, 1992. While I have sympathy for those Bavarians who may have bought homes in Erding North before 1992, those who could not stomach the noise have had more than three decades to relocate.

A practical solution could be a very high surcharge for late landings that could be put into a community development fund rather than an outright ban on late arrivals. But I’m simply not in favor of curfews that are so strictly enforced that diversions like the Condor flight I describe above become necessary.

CONCLUSION

A 10-second delay led to an eight-hour saga for passengers who should have been home in time for bed. While curfews do serve a purpose, this incident highlights the need for greater flexibility and common sense when it comes to enforcing them. No one wins when bureaucracy or “the rules” trumps practicality.

image: Ken Fielding / Flickr