Swiss International Air Lines said on Friday that it turned back a flight in mid-air heading from Zurich to Beirut because the security situation in Lebanon had become "difficult to assess."
The flight, with 138 passengers and five crew on board, did not have permission to land back in Zurich overnight on Thursday. It was instead diverted to Vienna, SWISS said.
"In view of the latest developments in the Middle East... the situation in Lebanon last night was difficult to assess," a spokesman told AFP.
"In order to gain time and to be able to properly assess the situation, they decided to take this step out of an abundance of caution," he added.
In Vienna, passengers were rebooked onto other flights.
"We hope for the understanding of the passengers concerned and did our utmost to get them to their destination as quickly as possible," the spokesman said.
Following a review, SWISS decided to maintain its flight program to Beirut and Tel Aviv, but said that it would monitor developments "very closely."
On Wednesday, the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper reported that SWISS pilots and flight attendants were concerned about the situation in Israel, and more of them were withdrawing from flights going to Tel Aviv.
With AFP
The flight, with 138 passengers and five crew on board, did not have permission to land back in Zurich overnight on Thursday. It was instead diverted to Vienna, SWISS said.
"In view of the latest developments in the Middle East... the situation in Lebanon last night was difficult to assess," a spokesman told AFP.
"In order to gain time and to be able to properly assess the situation, they decided to take this step out of an abundance of caution," he added.
In Vienna, passengers were rebooked onto other flights.
"We hope for the understanding of the passengers concerned and did our utmost to get them to their destination as quickly as possible," the spokesman said.
Following a review, SWISS decided to maintain its flight program to Beirut and Tel Aviv, but said that it would monitor developments "very closely."
On Wednesday, the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper reported that SWISS pilots and flight attendants were concerned about the situation in Israel, and more of them were withdrawing from flights going to Tel Aviv.
With AFP
This Is Beirut
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