Russian airline evacuates 250 passengers due to bomb threat

A Russian passenger aircraft was evacuated following a bomb menace at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York on December 6, 2020.

The Port Authority Police Department confirmed to local media that a Russian plane was forced to evacuate up to 250 passengers due to a bomb threat. The aircraft landed successfully and was evacuated safely without posing any threat to passengers or the crew.

Russian airlines caught in fake bomb threats problem

Aeroflot’s domestic flight SU1392 took off from Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO) on March 19, 2020. En route to Perm Bolshoye Savino Airport (PEE), the pilots of Sukhoi Superjet 100-95B issued a squawk 7700, declaring an emergency. Reportedly, an anonymous caller warned that explosives had been placed on the flight. Yet despite the distress signal, SU1392 did not divert from its course and landed at its destination as per usual.

JFK Airport shortly commented on social media that the incident did not interfere with any other scheduled operations. The airport warned the passengers about emergency personnel and activity presence in the surrounding area. The emergency services departed the scene some 3 hours later.

Due to an ongoing incident, emergency personnel and activity may be observed at #JFK airport. Please note that the airport is fully open and flights are operating without delays.
— Kennedy Airport. Wear a Face Covering. (@JFKairport) December 6, 2020

While neither authority revealed which exact flight was involved in the incident. On the day of the incident, there were only two flights arriving at JFK from Russia, the JFK airport flight tracker shows.

Aeroflot flight SU102 from Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO) landed in New York at 23:58 UTC. The Boeing 777-300ER aircraft (registered as VQ-BIL) was scheduled to carry a return flight SU103 later that day, but was delayed for several hours, Flightradar24.com data shows.