Yesterday, an Aerolíneas Argentinas flight from Buenos Aires to the city of Ushuaia was forced to divert and make an emergency landing in Comodoro Rivadavia due to a bomb threat.
The threat ended up being a false alarm as following a thorough search, no explosive items were found.
Further Details
Aerolíneas Argentinas flight AR1882, operated by a Boeing 737 MAX 8, departed from Buenos Aires Aeroparque, also known as Aeroparque Internacional Jorge Newbery, as normal at 04:46 local time to begin its journey to Ushuaia Malvinas Argentinas International Airport.
According to the Argentian newspaper Clarín, the bomb threat originated from a 911 call made from La Plata, which is around 30 miles from Buenos Aires.
The flight almost certainly had to be diverted following that revelation to Comodoro Rivadavia International Airport based in the Chubut Province, Argentina. AR1882 landed safely at 07:40 local time in a remote section of the airfield.
The aircraft was greeted by airport firefighters, airport security police, the bomb disposal squad, and the National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC).
As always, threats like these are taken very seriously.
An emergency protocol was activated in response – this involved closing the airport and calling upon the provincial Chubut Police explosives brigade and emergency services. In a statement, the airport’s security police (PSA) commented on the situation:
“The Operational Unit of the PSA of Comodoro Rivadavia received the alert through a communication from the control tower anticipating the arrival of the Aerolíneas Argentinas flight, and the Emergency Operational Committee was quickly formed.”
In providing an update on the crew and passengers on board, and what level of investigation took place immediately after the emergency landing, the statement shared:
“The entire crew and passengers were disembarked and guided to the arrivals hall of the airport. Personnel from the explosives squad went to the plane and is examining the luggage, cabin and hold of the aircraft, in an exhaustive search to detect a possible explosive device, which so far has not produced any news.”
The 911 call ended up being a false alarm as no explosives were found following the search of the aircraft.
The stranded passengers waited nine hours in Comodoro Rivadavia International and eventually departed at 16:25 local time on a replacement aircraft. The replacement aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, arrived in Ushuaia at 17:57 local time.
The initial B737 MAX 8 left Comodoro much earlier at 12:49 that same day.
This isn’t the first time Aerolíneas Argentinas has had to deal with this kind of threat.
In December 2018, an Aerolíneas aircraft received a bomb threat while preparing to depart Córdoba in central Argentina. The aircraft was evacuated and checked by the appropriate authorities, but no explosives were found. The flight departed as normal two hours later.
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