The “Austrian Airlines” flight OS654 from Košice to Vienna usually departs at 5:25 a.m. from the airport in eastern Slovakia. However, this did not happen on July 23. The “Embraer E195” belonging to the Lufthansa group company took off only at 7:36 a.m. that morning.
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There can usually be many reasons for such a delay – technical aircraft malfunctions, storms, or other circumstances that stop work on the airport apron. But this time something much more unusual happened, reports the Slovak newspaper “Denník N”. The publication received information from airport employees who have access to security camera footage.
The recordings showed that around 1 a.m., when there were no flights at the airport, a man first entered two closed bars in the terminal and made himself coffee and food there.
The man climbed the stairs onto the plane
A little later, about a 50-year-old man, continuing to walk around the terminal, met an airport employee. He asked when the first flights would start, and at the employee’s urging, he left the terminal but did not leave the airport area. Instead, he climbed over the fence and walked on the airport apron for almost an hour.
Finally, the man approached the “Austrian Airlines” plane, to which stairs had already been placed. He climbed them, opened the plane door, and went inside. When the crew arrived shortly after 4 a.m., they found the man sleeping in the first row of seats. According to the newspaper, he then allegedly asked, “Are we flying yet?” The crew reported this to the security service.
The plane was checked for security
The police were called and detained the Slovak. He did not have identification documents with him but had documents suggesting he might be a psychiatric patient. After the incident, a security check was carried out on the plane, including the use of a bomb-sniffing dog. Because of this, the flight was delayed by about two hours.
“We can confirm the incident when an unauthorized person entered one of our planes at Košice airport on July 23,” an “Austrian Airlines” representative told aeroTELEGRAPH upon inquiry. “The incident is currently under investigation, and the exact circumstances have not yet been fully clarified.”
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Plane doors cannot be locked
According to the company representative, immediately after the incident, all necessary measures were taken to eliminate possible risks and ensure safe flight operations. “These measures were implemented in close cooperation with Košice airport and the responsible local authorities,” she said. For security reasons, no further details are currently disclosed.
In general, aircraft doors are not locked, and there is an important reason for this. In case of an emergency, rescuers must be able to enter the aircraft as quickly as possible without additional obstacles or delays.
One possible security measure is adhesive seals that are placed on the doors overnight. If such a seal is torn, it indicates that someone opened the door.
Did the camera watchers fall asleep?
Whether such an adhesive seal was placed on the “Austrian Airlines” Embraer plane door is not currently commented on by the company. However, the most important security measures are the protection of the airport apron and video surveillance. Indeed, cameras in Košice recorded what happened, but no one reacted to it.
According to the “Denník N” informant, the persons responsible for monitoring the cameras at that time might have fallen asleep. However, this is not confirmed. Košice airport had not responded to aeroTELEGRAPH’s inquiry about the incident before this article was published.
