Cathay Pacific confirms London-bound flight briefly lost contact; NATO alert triggered

Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific has confirmed that a London-bound flight briefly lost contact with air traffic control on Saturday, an incident that triggered a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alert.

Cathay Pacific said in an emailed reply to HKFP on Wednesday that the CX257 flight from Hong Kong to London experienced a “temporary loss of communication” with local air traffic control on July 4.“

As a result, there was a “subsequent interception by the authorities in accordance with internationally recognised protocols,” the flag carrier said.

“Communications were restored and the flight continued to Heathrow as planned,” Cathay Pacific said, adding that no one’s safety was compromised and that the flight adhered to authorised routing at all times.

The incident came to light after Hungary’s defence minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said in a Facebook post on Saturday that two Hungarian fighter jets responded to a NATO alert earlier that day.

The alert was triggered as the plane, while flying over Romanian airspace, failed to establish contact with Romanian civil air traffic control.

The minister said the two fighter jets took off at 1.51pm, after the alert was made at 1.42pm.

The Cathay flight then re-established contact with air traffic control, concluding the jets’ mission, he added.

In the statement, the airline said crew reported the incident immediately and that investigation is ongoing.

Romania and Hungary are member states of NATO, a political and military alliance consisting of 32 member states.

Under protocols stipulated by NATO, created to respond to hijackings and potential airspace violations, the alliance’s air operations centres are notified when an aircraft has lost contact with civilian air traffic control.

The centre can decide to send an alert, which triggers a NATO-assigned aircraft from an allied air base to take off and identify the plane.