Minsk Airport holds Lufthansa flight over “terrorism threat”

A Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) flight was delayed in Minsk due to the potential threat of a terrorist act.

Passengers were deplaned from an Airbus A319, registered as D-AIBD, about to operate flight LH1487 for Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) from Minsk (MSQ), Belarus, to Frankfurt (FRA), Germany. 

"An e-mail was sent to the national airport by unidentified persons about the intention to commit a terrorist act onboard Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA)'s flight LH1487 on the Minsk-Frankfurt route," Minsk airport reported. "The embarkation on this flight was suspended."

The aircraft eventually departed after a two-hour delay.

READ MORE: INCEDENT: Belarus diverts Ryanair flight to arrest journalist, opposition reports

On May 23, 2021, Ryanair’s Boeing 737, registered as SP-RSM, operating flight FR4978 from Athens (ATH), Greece, to Vilnius (VNO), Lithuania, was intercepted by an armed Belarusian MiG -29 fighter jet. Upon landing in Minsk (MSQ), a passenger identified as Roman Protasevich, a journalist, was arrested by the KGB, the Belarusian security services.

The move caused international outrage from Western countries, prompting a demand for sanctions against the Belarusian regime. In response to the event, several airlines preemptively began diverting flights to avoid Belarusian airspace.