British Defence Ministry has said that one of its Air Force Typhoon planes had to escort an Air India flight to Stansted Airport amidst bomb threats. The Air India plane was forced to made a ‘precautionary landing’ at London’s Stansted Airport.
PHOTO: Indian ExpressThe Air India flight AI-191 was flying from Mumbai to Newark in the US.
Air India initially tweeted that a bomb threat had prompted the landing but later deleted the tweet, calling the incident a ‘security threat.’
BBC quoted a statement from Stansted Airport saying that the plane landed at about 10:15 BST and was now in an isolated part of the airport – and the main terminal was unaffected.
The Stansted Airport had closed down the runway but later tweeted that it had been opened.
#UPDATE Our runway has now re-opened and is fully operational following a precautionary landing of Air India flight.
We are sorry for any disruption caused by the incident and would like to thank you for your patience.— London Stansted Airport (@STN_Airport) June 27, 2019
A statement from the British Defence Ministry said, “The aircraft was safely escorted to Stansted airport. The Typhoon aircraft were authorised to transit at supersonic speed for operational reasons; any inconvenience caused to local residents is regretted.”
A report by London’s Sky News said that after landing, the diverted aircraft was taken to an isolated stand located a distance away from the airport’s ongoing operations.