NATO fighter jets scrambled over Turkish Airlines passenger's WiFi hotspot name

NATO fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a commercial flight after a passenger set up a 'bomb threat' WiFi hotspot. Spanish news outlet El Nacional said the Turkish Airlines flight TK1853 had taken off from Istanbul early yesterday morning when an emergency alert was triggered. Fighter jets from France were scrambled under a Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) and the flight was handed over to Spanish jets as it entered its airspace. The Catalan news outlet said the plane had been escorted by military aircraft after “a threat was detected” over the Mediterranean Sea, in Italian territory at 10am. A skwark 7700 code - code for a general emergency - was declared by the crew and the flight diverted to Barcelona-El Prat Airport, where the aircraft was diverted to an isolated part of the airport to minimise the threat to other flights. The alert was triggered by a WiFi hotspot network name which included the phrase "I have a bomb, everyone will die", Turkish Airlines Communication Director Yahya Üstün and Catalan authorities said. A total of 148 people, passengers and crew, were onboard at the time. “The necessary procedures have been immediately initiated in accordance with flight safety protocols,” Mr Üstün said. All passengers were taken to the contingency room in the airside section of the airport after disembarking the aircraft safely. Sniffer dogs were then seen swarming the plane. No explosives were found during the search conducted by Spain’s Civil Guard police force A delay of around 30 minutes was caused by the incident. The flight had been bound for Barcelona when the issue was reported, and operations soon returned to normal. It comes days after an Air India flight to Birmingham was forced to divert after pilots declared a mid-air emergency amid heavy snowfall and freezing conditions from Storm Goretti. A skwark 7700 code was transmitted by flight AI117 on January 9, travelling from Amritsar in India's Punjab state. Heavy snowfall and freezing conditions from Storm Goretti had reduced visibility to below 500 metres, under the minimum required for a successful touchdown, The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner diverted near Leamington Spa, turning towards London, according to flight-tracking data. The emergency was triggered by a "Minimum Fuel" situation, as the plane's holding pattern depleted reserves beyond what was safe for another orbit, AirLive reports. The emergency code gave the plane priority handling from Air Traffic Control (ATC). Birmingham Airport suspended all runway operations on the evening of January 9 due to heavy snow .

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