“Work underway” to return “hijacked” Boeing 737, says Armenian NSS

YEREVAN, MARCH 16, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian authorities say they are “working” to get back the passenger aircraft which was "hijacked" and ended up in Iran.

“The criminal case is filed under the article of hijacking an aircraft. Now, works are underway to return the aircraft,” the Deputy Director of the National Security Service Tigran Harutyunyan told reporters. He said the process got delayed due to some “technical problems”.

The Boeing 737-300, operated by Fly Armenia Airways, was conducting a technical flight with no passengers on board sometime in February of 2021, and the crew piloting the aircraft deviated from the planned flight path and flew to Varna airport in Bulgaria, and then took the flight path towards United Arab Emirates but somehow ended up landing in Mehrabad airport in Iran.

It’s not clear why the crew deviated from the original flight path, but the crew and Iranian aviation authorities both said the plane had to land in Mehrabad due to technical problems, namely fuel issues. Law enforcement authorities nevertheless filed the casefile on hijacking.

Armenian authorities have dispatched specialists to Iran to inspect the aircraft and fly it back.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan