A Virgin Atlantic plane en route from London to New York was diverted to Canada after the plane’s transponder emitted a signal indicating a possible hijacking. Virgin Flight 45 landed safely in Halifax, Nova Scotia, after being escorted there by two CF-18 fighters of the Canadian Air Force.
The aircraft, on its way from London's Heathrow Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, was intercepted and diverted to Halifax after it began emitting Code 7500, which indicates that a hijacking is in progress.
According to U.S. Homeland Security officials, the flight was diverted to Canada out of “an abundance of caution” even though officials later realised the signal was a false alarm. The plane, an A340-600 Airbus, was carrying 273 passengers and 16 crew members.
Virgin Atlantic confirmed that the signal was sent out due to a technical error. In a statement released to the press an hour after the incident, the airline said: “Our flight operations department has contacted the flight crew of the aircraft and they have confirmed that this is a false alarm. We are investigating the reason for this.”
The plane was checked thoroughly before being allowed to fly to New York. After the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., airlines around the world have imposed tighter security restrictions to prevent terrorist from hijacking planes.
Virgin Atlantic, the flagship organization of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, operates a fleet of wide-body aircraft on long-haul routes between London and North America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and Australia.
In August 2002, Virgin became the first airline to begin flights with the Airbus A340-600. The airline also has six Airbus A380s on order and due to be delivered in 2006. In August, Virgin ordered 13 more A340-600s, with options for 13 more.
