Second bomb threat on a Delta flight from New York to Tel Aviv
A second Delta Airlines plane was targeted by a bomb threat in one day. The flight was only able to take off from New York after inspections by American and Israeli authorities
A Delta Airlines plane that was scheduled to fly from New York to Tel Aviv was held Tuesday evening at John F. Kennedy International Airport after a call reported the presence of a bomb on board. Flight DL234, which was scheduled to depart at 10:40 p.m. Israeli time, was not authorized to take off pending security checks.
According to the Jerusalem Post, authorities suspect that the caller may be the same person who was behind a similar alert earlier in the day concerning a Delta aircraft that had arrived at Ben Gurion Airport. The plane was then moved to an isolated area, and its passengers were evacuated. Searches revealed no suspicious objects or explosives.
The flight departing from New York was ultimately only allowed to depart after the completion of inspections conducted by US security services and the approval of the Israeli authorities.
These two alerts come a few weeks after the attempted hijacking of a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. According to testimonies reported by the Jerusalem Post, the co-pilot attacked the main pilot and attempted to crash the aircraft before being subdued by passengers.