Israel Air Force escorts London flight into Ben Gurion after onboard scare proves unfounded
Wizz Air plane from Luton accompanied by fighter jets after reported threat; checks find no danger
Israeli fighter jets escorted a Wizz Air flight from London into Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday after a reported security concern onboard was later found to be unfounded.
The Israeli Air Force was scrambled to accompany Wizz Air flight W95301 from London Luton Airport after what officials described as suspicious conduct during the journey.
An Israel Airports Authority spokesperson said that “due to suspicious conduct on the aircraft, security forces acted in accordance with the procedures for such a case.”
The plane landed safely at Ben Gurion, where passengers and their belongings were checked as a precaution, including inspections by bomb-sniffing dogs. Authorities later confirmed that no threat was identified.
“The aircraft landed, and it was found that there was no real incident,” the spokesperson added.
According to reports in Israeli media, the alert was triggered after a passenger received what was initially believed to be a threatening message on a mobile phone. Further checks indicated the concern stemmed from a Wi-Fi hotspot name that had been changed to an Arabic word meaning “terrorist”, prompting fears of a possible attack.
Flights in and out of Ben Gurion were briefly paused during the incident, before airport operations returned to normal.
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