(Bloomberg) -- Pilots aboard an Air Europa flight preparing to depart Amsterdam mistakenly transmitted a hijacking notice, prompting a quick response by Dutch authorities and delaying the flight by more than three hours.
Officials boarded Madrid-bound Flight 1094 at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport around 7:30 p.m. local time Wednesday and determined that the “suspect situation” was not a hijacking. Passengers were escorted from the aircraft, the Defense Ministry said via Twitter.
“A notice was activated by mistake that launches protocols on hijackings at the airport,” Air Europa wrote on its Twitter account. “Nothing has happened, all passengers are safe and sound waiting to fly soon. We deeply apologize.”
A pilot was showing an intern the various transponder codes aboard the Airbus A330-200 and “the send button was then accidentally pressed,” the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported, citing sources it didn’t identify.
On Monday, British Airways parent IAG SA agreed to acquire Air Europa from Globalia Corp. for 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion).
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