EgyptAir Flight 648

EgyptAir Flight 648

An EgyptAir Boeing 737 similar to the aircraft involved in the hijack
Hijacking summary
Date	23-24 November 1985
Summary	Hijacking
Site	Luqa Airport, Luqa, Malta 35°51′27″N 014°28′39″E / 35.85750°N 14.47750°E / 35.85750; 14.47750Coordinates: 35°51′27″N 014°28′39″E / 35.85750°N 14.47750°E / 35.85750; 14.47750
Passengers	89 (excluding 3 hijackers)
Crew	6
Fatalities	60 (including 2 hijackers)
Injuries (non-fatal)	Several
Survivors	38 (including 1 hijacker)
Aircraft type	Boeing 737–266
Operator	EgyptAir
Registration	SU-AYH
Flight origin	Athens (Ellinikon) Int'l Airport
Destination	Cairo International Airport

EgyptAir Flight 648 was a regularly scheduled international flight between Athens (Ellinikon) Int'l Airport in Greece and Cairo International Airport in Egypt. On 23 November 1985, a Boeing 737-200 airliner, registered SU-AYH, servicing the flight was hijacked by the terrorist organization Abu Nidal. The subsequent raid on the aircraft by Egyptian troops resulted in dozens of deaths, making the hijacking of Flight 648 one of the deadliest such incidents in history. (The same aircraft had been diverted by Grumman F-14 Tomcat Fighter jets of the U.S. Navy a month earlier, after the Achille Lauro hijacking on 7 October.)

On 23 November 1985, Flight 648 took off at 8pm on its Athens-to-Cairo route. Ten minutes after takeoff, three Palestinian members of Abu Nidal hijacked the aircraft. The terrorists, calling themselves the Egypt Revolution, were heavily armed with guns and grenades. The terrorist leader, Omar Rezaq, proceeded to check all passports. At this point, an Egyptian Security Service agent, Mustafa Kamal, aboard opened fire, killing one terrorist before being wounded along with two flight attendants. In the exchange of fire the fuselage was punctured, causing a rapid depressurization. The aircraft was forced to descend to 14,000 feet (4,300 m) to allow the crew and passengers to breathe.

Libya was the original destination for the hijackers, but due to negative publicity the hijacking would have had if flown to Libya and the fact that the plane did not have enough fuel, Malta was chosen as a more suitable option. The aircraft was running dangerously low on fuel, experiencing serious pressurization problems and carrying a number of wounded passengers. However, Maltese authorities did not give permission for the aircraft to land (the Maltese government had previously refused permission to other hijacked aircraft, including on 23 September 1982 when an Alitalia aircraft was hijacked on its way to Italy). The EgyptAir 648 hijackers insisted, and forced the pilot, Hani Galal, to land at Luqa Airport. As a last-ditch attempt to stop the landing, the runway lights were switched off, but the pilot managed to land the damaged aircraft safely.