A 62-year-old Spanish man has reportedly been arrested after a security scare at Cologne-Bonn International Airport in western Germany.

According to local media reports, flights were suspended and the airport's Terminal 1 was evacuated because of the apparent security breach.

"A person illegally entered the secure area," an airport spokeswoman told the German edition of The Local website.

"Federal police are evacuating Terminal 1 and all flights from that terminal have been stopped".

Passengers who had already boarded flights were returned to the terminal to go through security checks again.

Germany's Interior Ministry has reportedly set up a crisis panel to investigate what has happened.