The airport in the northern German city of Hamburg is closed to passengers and flights are cancelled after a vehicle broke through security and entered the premises, the German news agency dpa reports.

Federal police said an armed man had broken through a gate with his vehicle and fired twice into the air with a weapon. Police also said the man’s wife had previously contacted them about a possible child abduction.

Police said later that the 35-year-old man had a 4-year-old child inside the car and that they assumed he was the father and had taken the child by force from the mother in a possible custody battle.

German newspaper Bild daily reported the children’s mother had alerted police to a possible kidnapping shortly before the incident.

Police vehicles and ambulances arrive at the scene of a security breach at the Hamburg Airport. Photo / AP

Hamburg Police tweeted to say there was a “major police operation” at the airport “with a large contingent of emergency services”.

They added: “We are currently assuming a static hostage situation.”

Police said they “are currently assuming a custody dispute is the background to the operation”.

Federal police spokesman Thomas Gerbert told dpa that a large number of officers from state and federal police were on-site and in the vicinity of the vehicle.

Police guard the scene of a security breach at the Hamburg Airport. Photo / AP

Police also said that a psychologist was talking with the man and that there was no indication other people could be harmed since all passengers had evacuated the airport.