ROME (AP) — An American Airlines flight from New York to New Delhi landed safely in Rome on Sunday afternoon after it was diverted due to a security concern, which later proved to be “non-credible,” the airline said.
American Airlines said Flight 292 “was inspected by law enforcement” after landing at Leonardo da Vinci International Airport and “cleared to re-depart.”
It didn’t clarify the cause of the security concern, but added an inspection was required by protocol before the flight could land in New Delhi. “The flight will stay in Rome overnight to allow for required crew rest before continuing to Delhi as soon as possible tomorrow,” the airline said.
An Associated Press reporter filmed two fighter jets flying over the airport shortly before the unscheduled landing. Fire trucks were visible on the landing strip on one side of the plane after it landed. Neeraj Chopra, one of the passengers on board, said the captain announced that the plane had to turn around about three hours before it was supposed to land in New Delhi because of a change in “security status.”
Chopra, who was traveling from Detroit to visit family, described the mood on the plane as calm after the initial announcement but said he began to feel stressed when the captain later announced that fighter jets would be escorting their plane to Rome.
“I felt a little panic of, okay, what’s going on here?” Chopra told the AP. “There’s got to be like something bigger going on here.”
Passenger Jonathan Bacon, 22, from Dayton, Ohio, started paying attention to the flight tracker on the seatback in front of him after the captain’s announcement of a “diversion due to a security issue,” observing the plane’s sharp turn away from New Delhi and route back toward Rome.
Passengers had no internet connection for much of the flight, Bacon said, with only some spotty access that clued them into early reports of the situation about two hours before landing.
After landing, Bacon said all passengers were loaded onto buses and taken to the terminal, where each passenger and their personal items underwent additional security screenings that were time-consuming and felt “slightly heightened,” especially for arrivals. More than two hours after landing, Bacon and his friend said they were still waiting for their checked baggage, which they said was also undergoing security screenings.
“It was definitely the longest flight to Europe I’ve ever taken,” Bacon said.
A spokesperson for the airport said it was continuing to operate normally.
