Ryanair Boeing 737 Intercepted by German Fighter Jets Due To Security Threat

A Buzz-operated Ryanair Boeing 737 flying from Bulgaria to the UK earlier this week was intercepted by German military aircraft after a potential security issue involving the flight in question arose. This also prompted Czech authorities to prevent the jet from entering their airspace, leading to a slightly longer flight time.

The issue was ultimately able to be resolved in a swift manner, with the narrowbody twinjet continuing its journey to London as planned. Still, the incident highlights the impressive fast response time from the German military in scrambling a pair of fighter jets to escort the plane, as well as the serious nature with which such threats are handled. Let’s take a look at everything we know about this incident.

The Interception Was Prompted By A Potential Security Issue

Ryanair flight FR9962 is a regular scheduled commercial passenger flight that originates at Vasil Levski Airport (SOF) in the Bulgarian capital city of Sofia. Its destination is London Stansted Airport (STN), with current scheduling data made available by Flightradar24 showing that this service operates five times a week using Boeing 737-800 or 737 MAX 8-200 aircraft, primarily from Ryanair’s Polish arm: Buzz.

The iteration on Monday, August 11, was no different, with a Buzz 737-800 registered as SP-RNH rostered to operate the flight. It departed at 21:30, but, per the Aviation Herald, it was prevented from entering Czech airspace due to an alleged attack threat against the jet. This caused it to have to take a slightly longer route around Czech airspace, as seen above (with Sunday’s route for context). Ryanair explained:

“Buzz, the Polish charter airline, was advised of a possible security issue on a Buzz flight FR9962 from Sofia to London Stansted on Monday, August 11. This issue was quickly resolved and de-escalated, which allowed the flight to continue on to London Stansted, where it landed on time, and passengers disembarked normally.”

The Aircraft Was Temporarily Escorted By Fighter Jets

Despite having to take a slightly longer route from Sofia to London as a result of being denied entry to Czech airspace, the time penalty for the flight was minimal. Indeed, according to Flightradar24, Buzz flight FR9962 was airborne for two hours and 58 minutes on Monday, compared to two hours and 54 minutes, just four minutes shorter, on Sunday. As previously noted, the flight also still landed on time.

According to the Aviation Herald, there were 174 people on board the flight, meaning that it was busy but not quite full compared to the 189-seat capacity that ch-aviation lists SP-RNH as having. Data from aeroLOPA shows that this configuration is standard across all 737-800 jets at airlines in the wider Ryanair Group. Since Monday, the jet has flown to the likes of Warsaw, Kaunas, Plovdiv, and back to Sofia.

One notable aspect of the potential security incident onboard SP-RNH this Monday was the fact that it resulted in the aircraft being intercepted by a pair of Eurofighter Typhoon military jets from Germany. According to the BGNES News Agency, these aircraft escorted the narrowbody twinjet through German airspace as it flew northwest on Monday evening until it reached the border with the Netherlands.

Several Other Ryanair Flights Have Also Been Intercepted In Recent Years

There have been several other instances in the 2020s when Ryanair flights have been intercepted and escorted by fighter jets. For example, in July 2020, one of the airline’s planes had to divert to London while flying from Krakow to Dublin due to a bomb threat, with two RAF Eurofighter Typhoons escorting the aircraft.

Just a month later, an Airbus A320 operated by the Ryanair Group’s Austrian arm, Lauda Europe, was escorted by two RAF Typhoons when landing at London Stansted Airport. The plane had flown in from Vienna, and the alarm was raised when a suspicious package was found onboard, resulting in two men being detained.

Year Founded

1985

CEO

Eddie Wilson

The most infamous incident of this kind happened in May of 2021, when a Buzz-operated Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius was diverted to Minsk in Belarus due to a bomb threat. It made the diversion under the escort of a MiG-29 jet, but it later emerged that the Belarusian government had called for the redirection to arrest an opposition activist and journalist and his partner, prompting widespread outcry.