Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific has confirmed that a London-bound flight lost contact with air traffic control on Saturday, an incident that prompted a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alert.
Cathay Pacific said in an emailed response to HKFP on Wednesday that flight CX257 from Hong Kong to London experienced a “temporary loss of communication” with local air traffic control on July 4.
As a result, there was a “subsequent interception by authorities in accordance with internationally recognized protocols,” the flag carrier said.
“Communications were restored and the flight continued to Heathrow as planned,” Cathay Pacific said, adding that no one’s safety was at risk and that the flight adhered to the authorized route at all times.
The incident came to light after Hungary’s defense minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said on Facebook POST on Saturday that two Hungarian fighter jets responded to a NATO alert earlier that day.
The alert was triggered after the plane, while flying over Romanian airspace, failed to establish contact with Romanian civil air traffic control.
The minister said the two fighter jets took off at 13:51, after the alarm was given at 13:42.
The Cathay flight then reestablished contact with air traffic control, ending the planes’ mission, he added.
In a statement, the airline said the crew immediately reported the incident and that investigations are ongoing.
Romania and Hungary are member states of NATO, a political and military alliance made up of 32 member states.
below protocol defined by NATO, designed to respond to hijackings and potential airspace violations, the alliance’s air operations centers are notified when an aircraft has lost contact with civil air traffic control.
The center can decide to send an alert, which causes a NATO-designated aircraft from an allied air base to take off and identify the aircraft.
