A Cathay Pacific Airways passenger plane bound for London was intercepted by Nato fighter jets after losing communication with air traffic controllers over Romanian airspace, prompting Hong Kong’s aviation regulator to express “serious concern” and order a report.
The city’s flag carrier said on Wednesday that at no time were the aircraft or people on board in danger.
Flight CX257 departed Hong Kong on July 4 with more than 300 passengers bound for London’s Heathrow Airport, crossing the Black Sea into Hungary, about 250km (155 miles) south of Ukraine, according to route-tracking website Flightradar24.
When the plane entered Romanian airspace, it did not establish contact with the country’s civilian air traffic control, triggering the intercept by a pair of Hungarian fighter jets under Nato protocols, according to Hungarian Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi.
“An alert was ordered for a Nato quick reaction alert (interceptor) standby pair of aircraft because a Chinese-registered A350 type aircraft travelling on the Hong Kong-London route, while located in Romanian airspace, failed to establish contact with Romanian civilian air traffic control,” he said on social media, noting the alert was ordered at 1.42pm.
“The Hungarian readiness aircraft took off at 1.51pm and visually warned the Chinese-registered aircraft near the Hungarian border, after which it established contact with air traffic control.
