Emirates NYC flight forced to turn back to Athens due to ‘suspicious passenger’

A second Emirates flight was later denied permission to take off from Athens airport

An Emirates Airbus A380 (Getty Images)

A transatlantic Emirates flight was ordered to turn around on Thursday night due to “security concerns” raised by US authorities.

Flight EK209, which was due to travel from Athens’ Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport to New York City on 10 November, made it to the airspace over Sardinia (around 800 miles west) before being instructed to turn back.

The alert was raised by US security forces, who informed Greek airport authorities of a “suspicious passenger”, said local outlet the Greek Reporter.

It reported that the aircraft requested permission to land in nearby France or Italy, but was denied and forced to return to its departure point.

Later on Thursday a second Emirates flight, this time from Athens to Dubai, was denied permission to take off from the Greek capital’s airport.

Flight EK210 taxied along the runway before passengers were informed that they would have to return to the gate and disembark due to a “technical issue”.

According to the Greek Reporter, passengers were offloaded and security checked along with the aircraft, before being able to re-board and eventually take off at 10.06pm.

Daphne Tolis, a documentary filmmaker and fixer based in Greece, tweeted a thread about the EK209 incident, telling The Independent she had compiled reports from Greek state media (state-controlled TV and newspaper To Vima) into one timeline in English.

She reported: “The information from the CIA, assessed as serious by Greece’s National Intelligence Service, was that a suspicious person of Arab origin was on board.”

She added: “The aircraft was accompanied by a pair of F-16 fighter jets. The Greek fighter jets took off at 21.09 from Souda, Crete.

“The order to take off was given by the NATO HQ when the aircraft was 120 miles SW of Kalamata, in the Peloponnese. The Boeing 777 landed in Athens at 21.56pm.”

Ms Tolis concluded that all passengers were searched on landing and “nothing suspicious was found”.

The Independent has contacted the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for clarification.

Frago Levantinos last night tweeted what appears to be footage from the first flight after landing back at Athens. In the clip, passengers gather their belongings as cabin crew ask them to leave the plane and bring all hand luggage.

“Emirates Flight EK209 suspect remains seated and not allowed to leave the plane,” he tweeted. Other footage posted by the passenger shows people leaving an aircraft by airport steps onto the tarmac.

An Emirates spokesperson said: “Emirates can confirm flight EK210 from Athens to Dubai on 10 November returned to stand before take-off, and flight EK209 from Athens to Newark on 10 November also made an unscheduled return to Athens, due to security checks requested by the authorities.

“Passengers on flight EK209 have been rebooked to travel on 11 November and provided overnight accommodation. Emirates apologises for the inconvenience caused.”