Questions about the hijacked Ryanair flight in Belarus

In ordering the diversion, the Belarusian authorities were fully aware that the opponent Roman Protassevich was on Sunday on board Ryanair flight FR4978 Athens-Vilnius (Lithuania). The list of passengers is not, however, a prerequisite for compulsory flight plans for all international travel. The numbers of passengers and crew must be indicated. In addition to the airline, however, the passenger list is known to the departure and arrival airports as well as their police and customs services. Have there been any leaks at this level to Belarus unless the intelligence services intercepted this document.

Suspicious diversion

The plane – a Boeing 737-800 registered in Poland on one of the Irish low cost continental bases – received by radio from the Belarusian controller the instruction to divert to Minsk. The potential presence of a threat on board was invoked. However, the relevance of the change of route remains to be demonstrated. In the event of an explosive device, the urgency is to reach the nearest airport with emergency resources. When the FR4978 diverted, turning a 180 ° turn to the right, it was 72 km from Vilnius, its destination, and much further from Minsk at 183 km.

In the event that the crew of the plane would have been tempted to reach Lithuanian space anyway, located only 30 km away, an armed Belarusian MiG 29 fighter came to intercept the airliner. It fully complied with the manual for interception of a civil aircraft issued by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). It is recommended to establish radio contact on the emergency frequency 121.500 MHz, to display the code 7700 on the transponder (radar echo) by the intercepted aircraft. The hunter is worn on the left front of the civilian aircraft, a little above to be clearly seen by the captain (normally seated on the left). The operator should swing the aircraft and flash the sidelights to indicate that the instructions have been understood. Otherwise, a first cannon fire will be a warning.

Deprived of overflight charges

The international reaction to what turns out to be an act of piracy in violation of the Chicago Convention on Global Air Transport results in the boycott of Belarusian space. It is not just a political measure by the European Union. The Belarusian company Belavia will no longer be able to provide around 20 flights each day from or to EU airports. But it is above all an economic sanction which deprives Belarusian air traffic control of juicy fees paid by airlines transiting through this space (to Russia and especially Asia). Nearly 2,000 commercial flights pass through Belarusian airspace every week, according to Eurocontrol. These royalties are not trivial. The flight over Siberia, the shortest route to Japan or South Korea, is charged almost $ 10,000 per civilian flight. It is expensive, but less than the detours of the past through Anchorage or through India and Hong Kong.