First-Person Accounts Of What Happened When Belarus Hijacked A Ryanair Flight Sunday

by Gary Leff

May 24 2021

Belarus used a fake bomb threat to justify sending a fighter jet to intercept Ryanair flight FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania – and force it to land in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. Then, once it was on the ground, they snatched a journalist who had been highly critical of the nation’s strongman leader – and living in exile to avoid just this fate.

Now we know more about what happened as that plane was forced to land, and how the rest of the passengers were treated on the ground.

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Mexico’s President Lashes Out At U.S. Airline Protectionism, Defends His Nation’s Air Safety

by Gary Leff

May 24 2021

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is hitting back at the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s placing his country’s air safety rating under review, with expectations of a downgrade, and the implications for limiting new flights to the U.S. by Mexican airlines and placing constraints on the ability of U.S. airlines to codeshare with Mexican carriers.

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Spirit Airlines Fight Involves Teens And 7 Months’ Pregnant Woman, Everyone Gets Banned

by Gary Leff

May 24 2021

According to the grandmother of one of the passengers fighting, “[t]he guy in the black t-shirt and his girlfriend were fighting” after asking that passengers not kick the back of her granddaughter’s seat. There was cursing that escalated to “snatching” a pregnant woman’s hair. That’s when things really got out of control and a flight attendant made an announcement threatening to divert the aircraft.

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Ryanair: You Can Abduct Our Passengers, As Long As You Give Us Our Plane Back

by Gary Leff

ryan air plane landing
May 23 2021

Belarus used a fake bomb threat to justify sending a fighter jet to intercept Ryanair flight FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania – and force it to land in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. Once on the ground, they entered the aircraft to grab an opposition journalist that had been living in exile.

And Ryanair did not even show outrage. Instead they whitewashed the incident, claiming there was little inconvenience to passengers.

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Airport Decides To Close For 3 Days, Airlines And Passengers Will Have to Make Other Plans

by Gary Leff

May 23 2021

The Lexington, Kentucky Blue Grass airport is the primary air travel embarkation point for central and eastern Kentucky. American, United, Delta and Allegiant all service the airport with service to 16 destinations frequented by more than 1.3 million passengers per year. And it’s decided to close and shut down to all air travel for 3 days.

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Belarus Makes Up Bomb Threat, Scrambles Fighter To Force Down Ryanair Plane And Arrest Journalist

by Gary Leff

May 23 2021

This is truly frightening and dystopian. Belarus used a fighter jet to force down a Ryanair flight so that they could arrest a journalist on board who has opposed its President Aleksandr Lukashenko.

As pretext Belarus claims it responded to a concocted bomb threat on board the flight. However the plane was closer to its destination of Vilnius, Lithuania than Minsk, the capital of Belarus where it was forced to land.

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