By Margaret Sheard….
We have received articles under the topic of Cyprus Aviation History from Captain Emre Unel and today he has advised us that the news of a hijacked aircraft landing at Larnacs Airport is in fact not the first time this has happened involving an Egyptian hijacking.
In February 1978 the hijack of a Cyprus Airways DC-8 ended dramatically and the story can be viewed on Wikipedia
“In the late hours of 18 February 1978, Youssef Sebai, editor of a prominent Egyptian newspaper and a friend of the Egyptian 
President, Anwar Sadat, was assassinated by two gunmen at a convention being held at the Nicosia Hilton. The two assassins rounded up 16 Arab convention delegates as hostages (among them, two P.L.O. representatives and one Egyptian national) and demanded transportation to Larnaca International Airport. They also demanded and were supplied with a Cyprus Airways DC-8 aircraft (c/n 45303/141 N99862). Following negotiations with the Cypriot authorities, the hijackers were allowed to fly the aircraft out of Cyprus with 11 hostages and four crew members. The aircraft, however, was denied permission to land in Djibouti, Syria and Saudi Arabia and was forced to return and land in Cyprus a few hours later.”
To read more of this on Wikipedia click here
Later news we have seen indicates that the hijacker surrendered and was arrested. All passengers and crew were able to leave the aircraft without incident.
To read more of this incident and articles under the heading Cyprus Aviation History click on the following links:-
Hijacked Plane Forced To Land In Larnaca click here
Cyprus Aviation History
Part 1 click here
Part 2 – The story of the last Cyprus Airways Trident to land at Nicosia International Airport on the morning of July 20th 1974 click here
Part 3 – The history of Ercan Airport click here
Part 4 – Cyprus Turkish Airlines – KTHY click here
