Mumbai-London Jet flight ‘lost’ contact over Germany

Mumbai, Feb 20 (IANS) In a major scare, a Jet Airways Mumbai-London flight went "missing" over German air space after it briefly lost communication with the ground, an official said here on Sunday.

Jet Airways flight 9W-118, which departed from Mumbai on Friday around 1.20 p.m. for London with 330 passengers and 15 crew members and was scheduled to land at London’s Heathrow Airport the same day at around 5.20 p.m. (local time), briefly lost contact with the local ATC, an official said.

"Contact between the flight and the local air traffic control (ATC) was briefly lost while flying over German airspace," said an official spokesperson, but he did not specify for how long communication was severed and in which flying zone.

As a precautionary measure for the safety of the Boeing B777 aircraft and its passengers, the German Air Force deployed two of its fighter jets to escort the flight safely to its onward destination.

The flight subsequently landed at London’s Heathrow Airport without any incident or casualty after the flight lasting over nine hours.

As part of the standard operating procedures, the Jet Airways has de-rostered the entire crew of flight 9W-118 pending an enquiry into the incident.

It has reported the matter to all concerned authorities, including the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the spokesperson added.