An Australian man is reported to have been arrested following an incident onboard a Scoot flight from Singapore to Perth last night which resulted in the aircraft returning to Singapore under military escort.
Scoot flight TR16 was less than an hour into its flight when it made a U-turn over Indonesia and made its way back to the Singapore region.
It was then kept in a holding pattern northeast of the country for three hours.
Penerbangan Scoot TR16 SIN-PER hari ini menerima ancaman bom. Pesawat RTB ke SIN. pic.twitter.com/CYvje2HyY7
— Komunitas Indoflyer (@indoflyer) October 12, 2023
Photos taken by passengers onboard the flight revealed the flight was being escorted by Singapore Air Force jets as it returned to Singapore’s Changi Airport.
The incident closed the runway at one of Asia’s busiest airports for about an hour, disrupting other international flights which were forced to also take up holding patterns at a distance from the city, with some forced to divert to other airports in the region.
The Official Republic of Singapore Air Force has confirmed its involvement.
“Earlier this evening, two of our F-15SG fighter aircraft were activated to escort a Scoot flight, TR16, back to Singapore Changi Airport due to a suspected bomb threat onboard the aircraft.
Our fighters escorted the airliner till it landed safely at Changi Airport.”
Scoot said in a statement it was limited in how many details it could give due to the incident being a security matter but regretted the impact the incident had on its passengers.
“Scoot sincerely apologises for the disruption and inconvenience caused. The safety of our customers and crew is our top priority, and we will continue to provide assistance to our customers.”
