Dutch military police has responded to a hijack alert coming from an airliner at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
The alert has since been confirmed as a false alarm.
The involved aircraft was an Air Europa Airbus A330-200, registered as EC-LQP. The plane was due to take off to Madrid as UX1094, but is indefinitely delayed. It is currently standing at area D of the airport.
Police and the airport have confirmed that passengers and crew have been evacuated from the Airbus A330, the investigation remains ongoing.
Passengers and crew are safely off board. On-site research is still continuing. https://t.co/hZvl0Dq5ig
— Schiphol (@Schiphol) November 6, 2019
Air Europa has since release a statement, saying that procedures for a hijack situation were activated by accident.
#AirEuropaInfo False Alarm. In the flight Amsterdam – Madrid, this afternoon was activated, by mistake, a warning that triggers protocols on hijackings at the airport. Nothing has happened, all passengers are safe and sound waiting to fly soon. We deeply apologize.
— Air Europa (@AirEuropa) November 6, 2019
Emergency helicopters were used in the response, along with ground based emergency services. The incident was classified as ‘GRIP 3’, which refers to a situation that poses a threat to the local population.
Terminal D and E, as well as the train station were y partly closed off. However, flights continued to take off and land. As of 9:15 pm, the areas have reopened, with regular operations slowly resuming.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
