On March 22, a Romanian Air Force aircraft intercepted and escorted a civilian aircraft operating a Turkish Airlines flight from Moscow to Istanbul, following the information about a bomb alert onboard the plane.

The Romanian aircraft took off at 17:58 local time and, after the interception, escorted the civilian plane, in accordance with the legislation and procedures in force, until 18:24, when it left the national airspace, Agerpres reported.

The mission, commanded by the NATO Air Operations Center (CAOC) Torrejon and coordinated at the national level by the Air Component Command Reporting and Control Center, in coordination with civilian air traffic authorities, was carried out in maximum safety.

It was the second such false bomb alert in just several days.

On the night of Saturday to Sunday (March 19-20), a Wizz Air flight travelling on the route from Kutaisi (Georgia) to Warsaw, was faced with a similar emergency situation. When the aircraft was in Romanian airspace, the pilots allegedly informed the air traffic controllers about a bomb alert. Subsequently, according to the Hungarian Ministry of Defense, the low-cost company's plane was escorted by the Romanian Air Force fighter jets towards the exit from the Romanian airspace.

andrei@romania-insider.com

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