Cathay Pacific flight briefly lost contact over Romania, NATO scrambled fighter jets for identification

(Central News Agency, reporter Zhang Qian, Hong Kong, 8th) According to reports, a Cathay Pacific passenger plane flying from Hong Kong to London was briefly out of contact over Romania in Eastern Europe recently, triggering Hungary to dispatch fighter jets for identification. The passenger plane subsequently contacted the control tower, and the fighter jets returned to base.

According to today's report by TVB, the Hungarian Minister of Defense posted on social media, mentioning that last Saturday afternoon around 2 p.m., an Airbus A350 passenger plane flying from Hong Kong to London lost contact with civil aviation control departments when it reached Romanian airspace, triggering NATO's rapid response alert.

Hungary, which borders Romania, immediately dispatched fighter jets. The fighter jets performed a "visual warning" at the Hungarian border. The passenger plane then contacted the control tower, and the fighter jets returned to the air force base.

The report stated that a review of the flight records for that day showed that the aircraft involved was Cathay Pacific flight CX257, which can carry up to 334 passengers. It departed from Hong Kong on Saturday morning and arrived in London on time.

The report quoted a civil aviation pilot as saying that for flights passing through different regions, it is necessary to communicate with local air traffic controllers to ensure flight safety, but occasional loss of contact with the ground can occur.

The report also quoted Zhang Jinglong, chairman of the Hong Kong Professional Aviation Association, as saying that in Europe, once a plane loses contact, air traffic controllers will first try to contact nearby aircraft to make a call on its behalf. They will communicate with the passenger plane via data messages on an emergency channel. If there is still no response, fighter jets will be dispatched for observation according to procedure.

He said that the purpose of dispatching fighter jets is not to intercept or attack, but to identify the aircraft and, secondly, to determine if the crew can observe the air traffic controller's calls.

It is understood that if pilot negligence is confirmed, the military can hold the airline responsible and claim the costs of the sortie.

Cathay Pacific has not yet responded to the related reports. (Editor: Lu Jiarong) 1150708

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