A passenger violently attacked a 48-year-old ground-handling employee at Berlin Brandenburg Airport after being refused boarding for an airBaltic flight to Tallinn because he appeared too intoxicated to travel. The incident took place at a gate in Terminal 1 on 6 September and has since been escalated by prosecutors to suspicion of attempted homicide, with the 22-year-old Estonian suspect now in pre-trial detention in Brandenburg.
The assault involved a second Estonian companion and lasted nearly three minutes, with the victim repeatedly punched even after falling to the ground before bystanders, security staff and police intervened. The employee, who works for ground services, was taken to hospital and later discharged. Airport operator Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH confirmed the incident, underlining the risk frontline staff face when enforcing boarding and safety rules at a major European hub.