Jet Airways flight 'hijacked'

  The ATC reported the SOS message to the CISF and the police. Having learnt that the flight had been ‘hijacked’, they rushed to the tarmac where the flight was parked, only to find that the alarm was false.

It was a part of the mock hijack drill conducted by the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) along with the Central Industrial Security Force, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, Airports Authority of India, Karnataka State Police, Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), airlines and other stakeholders. The exercise, a BIAL press release said: “...was designed to test the preparedness of the airport in dealing with unlawful interference with civil aviation operations and to validate its response plan in case of such incidents.”

Held between 12.30 pm and 2 pm, the exercise saw BIAL simulate an incident that tried and tested all emergency response mechanisms at the airport and the local administration.

During the exercise, normal flight operations were not disrupted as the exercise was carried out during the maintenance closure hours.

The release claimed: “The scenario created was that of an aircraft hijack and the various processes - from the receipt of first information to the resumption of normal operations, including all stages of negotiations, passenger rescue and medical services - were simulated.”

It added that parallel functions were put to test in order to familiarise the concerned individuals/agencies with their roles and responsibilities, to ensure smooth communication and co-ordination between all the agencies, as well as to ensure familiarity with procedures during such incidents.

This was followed by a detailed debriefing session, aimed at learning from the experience. BIAL said the activity, split across various locations at the airport, had over 300 people participating.