Chancellor Friedrich Merz's cabinet joined the exercise that simulated "a time-critical situation potentially endangering public safety in Germany", said government spokesman Stefan Kornelius.

"The decision was then implemented by the German Armed Forces and security authorities."

The scenario involved a hijacked civilian aircraft flying across Germany from south to north and deemed by security services to be "possibly en route to a fictitious large public event", said a government source.

In the drill, two Eurofighter jets then actually scrambled and escorted the plane to an airfield in northern Germany, the source added.

"The decision was made in a realistic, hybrid scenario using secure communication channels," the source said. "This allows for secure processing even in time-critical situations within a very short timeframe."

The scenario evokes the September 11, 2001 attack which killed almost 3,000 people when attackers hijacked four passenger planes and flew them into buildings in New York and Washington and crashed one aircraft in Pennsylvania.

The German government source said that "in light of the increasing prevalence of hybrid threats, crisis response exercises are an integral part of national crisis preparedness".