An SAS flight arriving at Gardermoen Airport in Oslo, Norway was evacuated today in what authorities are now calling a misunderstanding. Among the passengers on board was Siv Jonsvold, who described the flight as entirely normal until the unexpected events unfolded after landing.
According to Jonsvold, after the plane, an Airbus A320neo (registered SE-RZX) landed, passengers were instructed to remain seated with their seatbelts fastened until the aircraft had parked. However, she then thought she heard the word “evacuate” being mentioned. Flight attendants were seen standing near a gate, pointing and staring at the plane.
“Within minutes, panic ensued,” Jonsvold reported. Passengers were instructed to leave their belongings behind as they exited the aircraft. Upon disembarking, they were met by several fire trucks, and the police quickly arrived on the scene. “People were walking out onto the wing, and several slid down the emergency slides,” she added.
Miscommunication Between Crew and Pilot
Police confirmed to VG shortly after 9 AM that the incident appeared to be a misunderstanding. Operations leader Ronny Samuelsen explained, “We received a report of an evacuation of a plane. The cause of the evacuation seems to be a miscommunication between the cabin crew and the pilot.”
SAS also confirmed the miscommunication, stating, “When flight SK343 arrived in Oslo from Trondheim, some of the evacuation slides were deployed as the plane’s doors were opened,” wrote press officer Øystein Schmidt in a statement. He emphasized that the incident was not treated as an emergency and that no passengers were injured. SAS has since contacted all passengers involved to provide detailed information about the incident.
Routine Investigation
Operations leader Samuelsen noted that the evacuation was ultimately uneventful, though it may have appeared otherwise to the passengers involved. “We conducted routine investigative steps, including administering breathalyzer tests to the pilot and cabin crew. All results were zero,” Samuelsen said.
As of just before 10 AM, police remained on the scene conducting further investigations to determine the exact nature of the incident. According to Cathrine Framholt, a press officer at Avinor, the evacuation did not impact other flights or operations at Gardermoen Airport.
Source: SAS-fly evakuert på Gardermoen