On Sunday morning, a Volaris airline plane departed from El Bajío on a flight to Tijuana when a passenger assaulted a flight attendant, stormed the cockpit, and attempted to hijack the aircraft. According to officials, the 31-year-old man wanted to redirect the plane to the United States.
“Today we faced an exceptional situation on Volaris flight 3041, which was covering the El Bajío – Tijuana route,” Enrique Beltranena, CEO of Volaris, wrote in a statement. “A passenger tried to divert the aircraft to the United States.”
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Thankfully, crew members were able to stop his attempted hijacking. After an emergency landing, the man was detained at Guadalajara International Airport.
“The crew acted according to established security procedures and, according to protocol, the plane was diverted to the airport in Guadalajara, where the airline turned the passenger over to the custody of competent authorities,” Volaris said in a statement.
The National Guard was also notified of the incident, according to the Federal Civil Aviation Agency.
Thankfully, all the crew members and the rest of the passengers were safe.
It’s unclear why, exactly, the man wanted to redirect the plane. However, he allegedly told airline personnel that one of his family members had been receiving death threats warning them not to go to Tijuana after the flight took off. The man was traveling with his wife and kids at the time.
Once he was removed from the plane after the emergency landing, passengers continued their flight to Tijuana without incident.
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