Swiss Air Force at ready, but only in office hours
When an Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise aircraft carrying 202 passengers entered Swiss airspace on Monday after being hijacked by the co-pilot en route to Rome, Switzerland's Air Force remained on the ground.
Want to invade Switzerland? Just make sure you strike outside office hours.
When an Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise aircraft carrying 202 passengers entered Swiss airspace on Monday after being hijacked by the co-pilot en route to Rome, Switzerland's Air Force remained on the ground.
That's because the incident occurred outside normal office hours. Instead, French and Italian fighter jets escorted the Boeing 767 to a safe landing in Geneva.
"You have a budget and you have to prioritise," said Swiss Air Force spokesman Juerg Nussbaum. While Switzerland monitors airspace around the clock, intervention occurs only during routine business hours starting at 8am, he said.
The Ethiopian plane, which originated in Addis Ababa, landed in Geneva shortly after 6am and the co-pilot gave himself up to police after sliding down a rope from the cockpit window. Authorities briefly closed the airport, and by early afternoon it had resumed normal service.
As it passed through Egyptian airspace, the Ethiopian carrier flashed a hijacking code. That alerted Italian officials, who scrambled Eurofighter aircraft. Later, two French Mirage 2000s escorted the airliner to Geneva. Both Italy and France have permission to enter Swiss airspace.