Nothing suspicious was found after a US-bound flight was ordered to return to Greece over a security scare, authorities said.
The plane and passengers were checked after Emirates flight EK209, on its way to Newark Airport in New Jersey near New York, landed safely back at Athens International Airport two hours after taking off on Thursday.
A second Emirates flight, EK210, due to fly to Dubai, was stopped in the Greek capital before takeoff.
EK209 passengers disembarking the plane, reports suggest suspect passenger is still seated and not allowed to leave the aircraft
pic.twitter.com/tWZ2TXlLEc— Flight Emergency (@FlightEmergency) November 10, 2022
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Public broadcaster ERT said the order was made after a request by US authorities.
Flight EK209 was escorted back through Greek airspace by two Greek air force F-16s, military officials said.
Information about a potentially suspicious passenger was not confirmed by the inspections, police said.
Photo of EK209 parked up back at Athens https://t.co/dyg7WQKaCW
— Flight Emergency (@FlightEmergency) November 10, 2022
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In a statement, Dubai-based Emirates acknowledged the disruption “due to security checks requested by the authorities”.
It did not elaborate but did apologise to passengers for the inconvenience.
