Unusual incident on Arkia flight: passenger snuck onto the plane, flight returned to the tarmac
The incident that took place this past weekend at Amsterdam Airport managed to cause great concern in the aviation world, as it raises the question of how a passenger could board the wrong plane. Following this saga, a technical malfunction was also discovered on the plane.
An Arkia flight operated on a chartered plane that was on its way from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv was forced to return to the tarmac after a security incident was suspected.
In the incident that occurred this past weekend, the plane had already begun taxiing on the runway, but just moments before takeoff, the pilot announced to the passengers that he was forced to return to the terminal.
Eran, one of the passengers, said that the flight attendants informed them of a security concern that forced the return. After checks, it turned out that a passenger had managed to sneak onto the flight without a valid ticket.
"Within a few minutes, security personnel arrived and took him out," said Eran. "How is it possible that a person without a ticket reaches the boarding gate, passes the flight attendants at the final check, and sits on a plane that is about to take off for Israel? This is not a routine delay, but a serious security failure that requires an investigation and clear explanations."
He added that they were not provided with organized information. "People were under stress. There was a feeling that some of the officials did not understand the severity of the incident and the distress of hundreds of passengers, who were locked in the plane for a long time," the passenger recalled.
But it didn't end there. After the passenger was removed, a technical malfunction was discovered on the plane, which delayed the flight's departure even further. "The technical malfunction discovered later, due to which the plane returned to the stand and after maintenance departed again, is not related at all to the passenger incident; these are two completely separate events," emphasized Arkia.
Arkia stressed that the passenger had passed all security screening processes at the airport and had mistakenly boarded the plane to Israel while holding a ticket for another destination. "During the preparations for the takeoff, while performing the passenger count, it was discovered that one of the passengers had mistakenly boarded the plane while holding a ticket for another flight. Immediately upon discovering the error, he was removed and transferred to the flight he was intended for," they stated.
In the last month, Arkia has been under heavy attack due to a series of disruptions in their flight schedule. About two weeks ago, a flight to Vilnius was forced to turn back shortly after takeoff due to a fear of a bird strike. The day after, an Arkia flight to Ramon Airport (Eilat) turned around in the air due to missile launches from Iran to Jordan. Last week, an Arkia flight to Phuket was forced to deviate from its route and land in Bangkok due to complex weather conditions.
