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Swiss jets not scrambled over hijacked plane because 'airbases closed at night'
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A Swiss F/A-18 fighter jet.

An incident with a highjacked Ethiopian passenger jet has exposed the Swiss Air Force's inability to deal with threats in 'off-duty' hours. An emergency escort to the aircraft in distress was carried out by vigilant colleagues from Italy and France.

Early on Monday morning, an Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot told ground control he had highjacked flight ET-702 from Addis Ababa to Rome and was going to land in Geneva. The Swiss Air Force was caught off guard and missed a rare opportunity to go on a real mission. It turned out that they were unable to scramble any jets because they only work during office hours!

"Switzerland cannot intervene because its airbases are closed at night and on the weekend," Swiss Air Force spokesman, Laurent Savary, commented to AFP later on, adding that it is "a question of budget and staffing."

Naboene fløy:

• Italian Eurofighters Intercept Ethiopian Airliner

  Posted by Nicholas Fiorenza 5:05 PM on Feb 18, 2014
  
  
  The Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 which was hijacked on 17 February was intercepted by two Italian Eurofighters. The intercept took place at 5:07 CET.
  
  
  

  

  Italian air force photo of Eurofighers returning from their mission
  The Italian Eurofighters were joined five minutes later by a French Mirage 2000C. By 5:17, the intercepting aircraft determined that the hijacked airliner was on its way to Geneva, where it landed at 6:02, followed immediately by the arrest of the hijacker by the Swiss police.
  On 21 January, the French and Italian air forces conducted their latest cross-border exercise practicing just such an eventuality.