Prosecutors have dropped a criminal investigation into an incident in February in which hundreds of passengers were forced to spend the night on board aircraft at Munich Airport after heavy snowfall grounded flights, saying there was insufficient evidence that anyone had committed a prosecutable offence.
The case was closed without result after the police report on the incident was reviewed, a spokeswoman for the Landshut public prosecutor's office said on Thursday.
Police had launched an inquiry after an "apparently uninvolved third party" had prompted a review of the events, the Upper Bavaria North police headquarters said. The request had been submitted via a contact form to the State Criminal Investigation Office in Munich.
No complaints from affected passengers were received by police, it said.
According to a Lufthansa spokeswoman, all passengers on Lufthansa Group flights affected by the incident were offered financial compensation - "even though passengers would not have been entitled to it under EU air passenger rights regulations due to the weather."
Those who had provided contact details received a letter of apology with a link to submit claims. The amount of compensation was based on the length of the planned flight. Both the airline and the airport had apologized for the "unacceptable situation."
Planes unable to take off due to snowfall
Six flights carrying around 600 passengers were affected in total, according to the airport. The passengers were already on board and due to depart when heavy snowfall unexpectedly prevented the aircraft from taking off, and there were no buses available to bring passengers back to the terminal.
Munich's night flight regulations apply between midnight and 5 am. In order to allow as many flights as possible to depart, a special flight permit had been obtained that night and aircraft had been sent to the taxiways until 1 am. However, the six affected aircraft were unable to take off within that window due to the heavy snowfall.
Fire brigade was nearby - and was not called
While passengers were forced to wait on board, dozens of firefighters were in the immediate vicinity and could have helped, according to the airport. "They should have been alerted," said Thomas Hoff Andersson, managing director of aviation and operations at the company that operates Munich Airport, following the incident.
There had been several opportunities that night to resolve the situation with emergency measures, but this had not happened, he said: "We did not handle this well."
In future, there would be "clear guidelines for when escalations to the next management level must take place." The airport and Lufthansa also said they would cooperate more closely in such situations going forward.
