Belarus city Minsk airlines FIVE Ryanair ADR Belarus city Minsk

Ryanair boss: airlines must fly over rogue states despite Belarus ‘hijacking’

Security with a sniffer dog in Vilnius checking luggage in front of Ryanair flight FR4978, which carried opposition journalist Roman Praotasevich.

Photograph: Onliner.by Handout/EPA Airlines must remain free to fly over rogue states despite the “state-sponsored hijacking” of a plane by Belarus, according to the boss of Ryanair, as he told MPs of the “hostile and threatening” actions towards the flight crew in Minsk. The captain and five crew of Ryanair flight FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius were put under armed guard in Minsk after diverting the plane for a fake bomb threat – apparently staged to allow the Belarus government to capture an opposition journalist among the 126 passengers.

DMCA