American Airlines Flight from New York to New Delhi lands safely in Rome due to Safety Concerns :
An American Airlines flight from New York to New Delhi, diverted due to safety concerns, landed safely in Rome on Sunday afternoon in what the airline later described as “incredible.” American Airlines said Flight 292 was inspected by law enforcement after landing at Leonardo da Vinci International Airport and that the flight was “cleared to take off again.”
It did not specify the reason for the safety concern but said inspection of the flight before landing in New Delhi was required as per protocol. “The flight will make an overnight stopover in Rome to allow the crew adequate rest before departing early for Delhi tomorrow,” the airline said.
An Associated Press journalist captured two fighter planes flying over the airport shortly before the unscheduled landing. After the plane landed, fire trucks were seen on one side of the landing strip.
Neeraj Chopra, a passenger on board the plane, said the captain announced that the plane had to turn back about three hours before it was due to land in New Delhi due to a change in the “Security Situation”. Neeraj Chopra, who was traveling from Detroit, Michigan, to meet his family, said the atmosphere on the plane was initially calm, but as the captain explained that fighter jets would escort the plane to Rome, he felt tense.
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Passenger Jonathan Bacon, 22, of Dayton, Ohio, said that when the captain announced a “diversion for safety reasons,” he began paying attention to the flight tracker on the seat in front of him as he watched the plane move away from New Delhi and toward Rome.
Jonathan Bacon said “that passengers did not have an Internet connection for much of the flight, and only a few irregular connections caused him to receive the first information about the situation about two hours before landing.”
After disembarking, Bacon said all passengers were boarded by buses and brought to the terminal, where each passenger and their personal belongings had to go through additional security checks, which added time and caused a slight delay to arrivals.
More than two hours after landing, Bacon and his friend said they were still waiting for their checked luggage, and security was still ongoing.
Bacon said, “This has undoubtedly been my longest flight to Europe.”
