Lufthansa Flight 649
D-ABYD, the aircraft involved in the hijacking of Flight 649, at Frankfurt Airport in June 1972
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| Hijacking summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 22–23 February 1972 |
| Summary | Hijacking |
| Site | Aden International Airport |
| Passengers | 177 (including 5 hijackers) |
| Crew | 15 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Survivors | 192 (all) |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 747-200 |
| Aircraft name | Baden-Württemberg |
| Operator | Lufthansa |
| Registration | D-ABYD |
| Flight origin | Tokyo-Haneda Airport |
| 1st stopover | Hong Kong-Kai Tak Airport |
| 2nd stopover | Bangkok-Don Muang Airport |
| 3rd stopover | Delhi-Palam Airport |
| Last stopover | Athens-Ellinikon Airport |
| Destination | Frankfurt Airport |
The hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 649 was an act of terrorism committed by a Palestinian group that took place between 22 and 23 February 1972. Eventually, all hostages on board the seized Boeing 747-200 were released when the West German government paid a ransom of US$5 million.
Flight 649 was a scheduled Lufthansa service on the Tokyo-Hong Kong-Bangkok-Delhi-Athens-Frankfurt route, which was operated once a week, leaving Tokyo-Haneda Airport on Monday afternoons and arriving at Frankfurt Airport the next morning. On Tuesday, 22 February 1972, the Boeing 747-200 serving the flight (registered D-ABYD) was hijacked by five men who were armed with guns and explosives. The initial assault happened at around 1:00 a.m., half an hour after the aircraft with 172 other passengers and 15 crew members had departed Delhi-Palam Airport.
It was later determined that the perpetrators, who identified themselves as Organisation for Resisting Zionist Persecution were commandeered by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and had boarded the flight at different airports, one at Hong Kong-Kai Tak, two at Bangkok-Don Muang, and two at Delhi-Palam.
Initially, the pilot was ordered to land the 747 at an unprepared airstrip in the Arabian Desert. Once the hijackers learned that the Lufthansa crew considered such a maneuvre to be too dangerous, they agreed on heading to Aden International Airport instead, in what was then South Yemen. Once having landed there, all women and children among the passengers were released, as well as one female flight attendant.
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