An easyJet Airbus A320 aircraft, which was supposed to fly to Paris, diverted to Lyon after one of the passengers attempted to hijack the plane mid-flight.
The incident occurred on September 11, 2022, when the easyJet Airbus A320-200 jet, registered OE-IJJ was operating regular scheduled domestic flight U24066 between Nice and Paris in France. According to Flightradar24.com, the aircraft took off from Nice Airport (NCE) at 3.56 p.m (UTC) and was supposed to land at Paris Orly Airport (ORY) around two hours later.
However, as the plane was cruising, a threatening shirtless individual stood up in the middle of the cabin aisle and started screaming while attempting to force his way into the cockpit, Air Journal reported. According to witnesses, a cabin crew member prevented the aggressive passenger from breaking into the flight deck.
But the bare-chested person continued acting in a threatening manner.
“He was scary, he intimidated everyone,” one of the witnesses of the flight told local media. “I thought it was over then. He asked us if we cared about our little lives.”
The flight crew immediately decided to divert to the nearest available airport and around an hour after the departure, the plane landed at Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport (LYS).
Later easyJet confirmed to local media that the flight was diverted “due to a passenger’s disruptive behavior.”
“The police were present when the aircraft arrived in Lyon. The passengers were disembarked, and the flight then continued [the flight] to Orly,” easyJet explained.