Germany scrambles jets after airline radio glitch sends false hijack alert

A flight from Greece to Germany landed safely in Nuremberg on Tuesday after a cockpit hijack ‌alert that the airline attributed to a malfunction prompted the German air force to scramble two fighter jets.

Corendon Airlines blamed a malfunction in the radio communication system and said that "no emergency situation occurred and that at no point were the passengers, flight crew or ‌aircraft in any danger". The incident on the Boeing 737-800, which had departed from the Greek island of Corfu, forced a ‌brief suspension of operations at Nuremberg Airport, the plane's scheduled destination, the airport said. Flight operations later returned to normal.

"From the cockpit, the code '7500' (hijacking case) was transmitted, and furthermore, the pilot could no longer be reached by radio. For safety reasons, various alarm scrambles were then triggered," German police said on X. A ⁠German air ​force spokesperson said that two ⁠Eurofighter jets scrambled from Neuburg Air Base in southern Germany and accompanied the passenger jet until it landed.

Germany has two of those alarm squads, each with ⁠two fighter jets, to assess the situation when communication with civilian air crews is lost, which happens about once or twice a month, according ​to the air force's website. The alert comes less than a month after the co-pilot of a jet bound for ⁠Israel from Dubai attacked the pilot with an emergency crash axe, with the United Arab Emirates' prosecutor general calling the incident a "terrorist attack".

Corendon, a Turkey-based leisure ⁠airline, ​said the emergency code had been transmitted while the jet was in Croatian airspace "due to a brief malfunction in the radio communication system". "The situation was immediately monitored, investigations were promptly initiated and all necessary preparations were made. The aircraft landed ⁠safely at Nuremberg Airport," it said.

A possible drone sighting had already disrupted air traffic at the airport overnight into Tuesday. German ⁠authorities have been on heightened ⁠alert since a failed attack involving an explosives-laden drone at a German airport in August, which authorities blamed on Russia.

Russia has denied any involvement.