The plane, flying on the Warsaw - Tel Aviv route, which made an emergency landing at Burgas Airport, requested permission to land at the Cypriot Paphos Airport, but was denied due to heavy traffic. This is what the Cypriot publication “Cyprus Mail“ writes in connection with the case of the “Airbus A320” plane, from which a false signal of unlawful interference or hijacking was sent, BTA reported.
The press center of the Ministry of Transport and Communications informed that the reason for the plane's redirection is a technical malfunction in the transponder, which emitted a false signal of unlawful interference or hijacking. As a result, established procedures for airspace protection (Air Policing) were activated.
The Cypriot newspaper “Cyprus Mail“ writes that after the hijacking alert was issued, the plane requested permission to land in Cyprus. According to Israeli media, quoted by “Cyprus Mail“, the plane was circling Cyprus at the time of the alert. The captain requested permission to land at Paphos airport, but was denied due to increased traffic. That's why the plane was diverted to Bulgaria, the newspaper writes.
Despite the clarification from the cockpit, Israeli authorities applied standard security procedures, the “Cyprus Mail“ indicates.
The Israel Defense Forces raised the alert level for two fighter jets after receiving a signal of “lack of contact with the plane“. They were sent to intercept and escort the flight. After contact with the plane was restored, the Israeli army announced that “the incident is over“ and "there are no concerns about a security incident", writes "Cyprus Mail".
Israeli security officials have reported that there is no evidence of a hijacking or terrorist act and have attributed the alarm to human error in the cockpit.
The emergency transponder code used to signal a hijacking automatically triggers international aviation security procedures, which require an immediate response from civil aviation and defense authorities until the true nature of the alert is established, the Cypriot publication explains.
Authorities report that there were no injuries among the passengers and crew, and the incident remains under investigation by the competent aviation authorities, writes "Cyprus Mail".