A Ryanair flight bound for Dublin was forced to return to Porto after a passenger allegedly declared shortly after take-off that she was being pursued by three individuals. The 48-year-old woman reportedly handed flight attendants sheets of paper detailing her claim and asked that they be passed to the pilot.
Incident details
Flight 7073, a Boeing 737, turned around dramatically and headed back to its departure airport. The unnamed Brazilian passenger was escorted off the aircraft after it landed and was questioned by local authorities. The plane later departed Porto again just before 1:30am and arrived in Dublin around 3:15am local time, two-and-a-half hours behind schedule.
Portuguese daily Correio da Manha reported that the woman re-boarded the aircraft after being questioned by authorities "without police verifying her allegations." Other Portuguese media said the passenger exhibited "disorderly behaviour" and was led out of the airport by officers.
Possible hijack signal
Reports suggested the pilot transmitted a squawk code used to discreetly signal unlawful interference, such as a hijacking or cockpit intrusion, to air traffic control before the unplanned turn-around. Former TAP pilot and aviation author Jose Correia Guedes posted on X that the Ryanair Boeing 737-8 MAX with registration EI-IJK took off from Porto for Dublin and, upon passing Flight Level 120 (12,000 feet), the captain entered code 7500 into the transponder, signalling an attempted hijacking or cockpit intrusion.
Guedes added that the crew requested radar vectors to return to the airport and asked for authorities to be notified. With air traffic control assistance, the aircraft landed without problems at Porto near midnight, and the PSP police took charge of the incident. He noted that entering code 7500 triggers an alarm on air traffic controllers' panels, followed by confirmation, notification to authorities and emergency services, and privileged communication with the crew until the issue is resolved.
Guedes said he could not confirm whether there was an attempted hijacking or just a misbehaving passenger. The PSP police force could not be reached for comment.
Ryanair statement
Ryanair said in a statement: "This flight from Porto to Dublin returned to Porto shortly after take-off due to a false security report, which was quickly resolved before the flight continued to Dublin following a 2hr 33mins delay." The airline did not say whether the pilot had sent a squawk code.
