Israeli Air Force fighter jets were scrambled Sunday afternoon toward a Wizz Air Flight W95310, a passenger plane en route from London to Ben Gurion Airport, following a credible suspicion of a security incident.
The drama began when a couple aboard the aircraft noticed that the word “terrorist" appeared in Arabic on their mobile phone.
The alarmed passengers immediately alerted the flight crew, who acted in accordance with emergency procedures and reported the incident to Israel’s security authorities and air traffic control.
Following the report, and due to the high security sensitivity, a security protocol was activated and a decision was made to scramble a pair of Israeli Air Force fighter jets, which escorted the passenger plane from the moment it entered Israeli airspace until it touched down on the runway at Ben Gurion Airport.
All passengers and crew disembarked safely.
Upon landing at Ben Gurion Airport, police and security forces were waiting on the tarmac. A swift initial debriefing of the passengers on the ground revealed the true circumstances: the couple’s son had earlier changed the name of their phone’s hotspot to a threatening-sounding label as a “joke," without their knowledge.
Although the suspicion was quickly dispelled, passengers on the flight underwent additional and enhanced security screening after disembarking, in order to definitively rule out any threat.
The Israel Airports Authority said: "Due to suspicion of suspicious behavior on the aircraft, security forces acted in accordance with protocols. The incident has concluded. The plane landed, and it was determined that there was no actual security event."