Cathay Pacific said its CX257 flight from Hong Kong to London experienced a temporary loss of communication with local air traffic control on July 4, while flying over Romanian airspace. The incident triggered a NATO alert and brought two Hungarian fighter jets into the response before contact was restored and the flight continued to Heathrow as planned.
Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi on Saturday
Hungary’s defence minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said in a Facebook post on Saturday that the alert was made at 1.42pm and that two Hungarian fighter jets took off at 1.51pm. That sequence shows how fast NATO procedures can move once an aircraft loses contact with civilian air traffic control and an allied air operations centre decides an alert is needed.
Under NATO protocols, air operations centres can be notified when an aircraft has lost contact with civilian air traffic control. The centre can then send an alert that triggers a NATO-assigned aircraft from an allied air base to take off and identify the plane. In this case, the fighter jets’ mission ended after CX257 re-established contact with air traffic control.
Cathay Pacific’s account
Cathay Pacific said the flight adhered to authorised routing at all times, crew reported the incident immediately, and an investigation is ongoing. The airline also said “temporary loss of communication” led to “subsequent interception by the authorities in accordance with internationally recognised protocols.”
The airline said “no one’s safety was compromised,” even though the flight drew a NATO alert while crossing Romania and prompted an interception response. For passengers and staff, the practical point is that the aircraft kept moving to Heathrow after communications returned, and the airline has already said it is still examining what broke the contact with Romanian civil air traffic control.
