Air Europa False Alarm in Amsterdam

According to Bloomberg, pilots aboard an Air Europa flight preparing to depart Amsterdam mistakenly transmitted a hijacking notice; this prompted a quick response by Dutch authorities and delayed the flight by more than three hours.

The flight was UX1094 flying from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) to Madrid Barajas Airport (MAD) operated by an Airbus A330-200 registered as EC-LQP.

According to the airport, Pier D at Amsterdam was temporarily closed.

As a result of the investigation by the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, our D pier was temporarily closed. From now on, there is a regular operation at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol again.

— Schiphol (@Schiphol) November 6, 2019

None of the flights were cancelled but several dozen were delayed due to the false alarm.

The terminals are now back to normal and operating as usual. We advise travellers to check our website, the Schiphol app or with their airline for the most up-to-date flight information. All planned flights are departing, however several dozen were delayed. None were cancelled.

— Schiphol (@Schiphol) November 6, 2019

Air Europa also made an announcement soon after the incident, apologising to all passengers.

#AirEuropaInfo False Alarm. In the flight Amsterdam – Madrid, this afternoon was activated, by mistake, a warning that triggers protocols on hijackings at the airport. Nothing has happened, all passengers are safe and sound waiting to fly soon. We deeply apologize.

— Air Europa (@AirEuropa) November 6, 2019

According to a video recorded by a Business Class passenger aboard, the captain also made an apology to the cabin after he accidentally activated the alarm.

#Schiphol captain’s apology pic.twitter.com/V2UI7LL9Tp

— Alberto Santos B. (@asantosb) November 6, 2019

According to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, a pilot was showing an intern the various transponder codes aboard the aircraft and “the send button was then accidentally pressed.”

While the Air Europa incident definitely caused horror and disturbance in the operation of Amsterdam airport, it is good to see the alarm was a false one and nobody was hurt. Even better than that, no flight was cancelled and everyone was able to get to their destination.