Emergency services rushed to Amsterdam Schiphol airport, The Netherlands on Wednesday evening after a suspicious situation on board an Air Europa Airbus A330 (EC-LQP) occurred. An arrest unit was on-site and two trauma helicopters were scrambled. The aircraft operated a flight towards Madrid, Spain.
Dutch authorities announced that a GRIP 3 (*) emergency situation was issued. Several gates at the airport were closed while passengers were kept at a distance. Landing aircraft were instructed to hold short on a remote position. At around 20:40 (UTC +1), passengers and crew members safely left the aircraft.
At around 20:50, Air Europe tweeted that a false alarm was accidentally triggered on board. Apparently, the protocol to announce a kidnapping was activated by mistake. The airline apologised and said that all passengers were safe and good to fly to Madrid.
#AirEuropaInfo Falsa Alarma. En el vuelo Ámsterdam – Madrid, esta tarde se activó, por error, un aviso que pone en marcha protocolos sobre secuestros en el aeropuerto. No ha pasado nada, todos los pasajeros se encuentran perfectamente esperando poder volar pronto. Lo lamentamos.
— Air Europa (@AirEuropa) November 6, 2019
Schipol. Military police at the airport due to ongoing situation with an aircraft. All gates closed. No aircraft coming in or out. pic.twitter.com/E6w4qiH5ZL
— Mark Crompton (@MarkCrompton88) November 6, 2019
* GRIP 3
A large area is affected. The mayor will order his full policy team and the municipal disaster management team to convene. The regional operational team will also convene in full composition.
A mayor of one of the municipalities in the region is appointed as coordinating mayor; this is usually the mayor of the largest city in the region. This person chairs the regional policy team which further consists of chiefs of the emergency services and other advisors. The King’s Commissioner is informed, who in turn informs the Minister of the Interior.
The incident can formally be classified as a disaster, although GRIP 3 can also be used in case of an impending disaster.
Op dit moment onderzoeken wij een verdachte situatie aan boord van een vliegtuig op #schiphol. Nadere mededelingen volgen.
— Koninklijke Marechaussee (@Marechaussee) November 6, 2019
Security lock down at #schipol anyone knows what's going on at #ams #AmsterdamAirport? pic.twitter.com/Le4zEpiXn5
— Kat Wolseley (@KatWolseley) November 6, 2019
There is currently an emergency situation at Amsterdam-Schiphol airport. The situation is causing flights at the D and E, even number gates to be directed to hardstands. The airport is operating. No further info on nature of emergency.https://t.co/sVZWoPdKLK pic.twitter.com/oElGwfwaKA
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) November 6, 2019
Forum discussion: https://www.aviation24.be/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=67550
