The hijack of an Egyptian plane which was forced to divert to Cyprus after a man on board claimed to have a suicide belt is a return to "the security stone age", an aviation expert warned.
David Learmount said it seemed the captain of the flight "didn't have faith in the security systems" and felt he had to follow the hijacker's demands, resulting in the "first major successful hijack since 9/11".
The incident involved an EgyptAir domestic flight between Alexandria and Cairo which was then diverted to Larnaca airport in Cyprus.
Mr Learmount said the captain should have been confident that it was “impossible” for someone to have got through security with an explosive suicide belt. The belt worn by the man in this case was fake, authorities have said.
“It is taking us back to the security stone age - pre-9/11 when we had lots and lots of regular hijacks because the drill at that time was ‘do what the hijacker asks of you and we will deal with it on the ground with negotiators on the ground’,” he said.
“Then after 9/11 they locked cockpit doors, made them bullet proof and everything. The drill now is supposed to be ‘Look, we have a much improved security system on the ground and therefore we should be able to have faith in it’. The captain should be able to have faith in it.”
He said the captain’s decision was understandable “up to a point”, amid concerns over the security of Egyptian airports.
Five months ago, 224 people were killed when a Russian aircraft crashed over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula minutes after it took off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Russia later said an explosive device had brought down the aircraft.
Regarding the latest incident, Mr Learmount said: “The captain obviously didn’t have faith in the security systems so felt he had to go along with the demands.
“The system has been working because people have had faith in it. There has been lots of attempted hijacks by disrupted passengers and the captain has just said no.”
He added: “If the system was working he would have had sufficient faith to say this cannot be true, this is a hoax.”
The alleged hijacker was named by Cypriot government officials as Seif Eldin Mustafa, whose nationality has not been confirmed.
Amid confusing scenes, the hostage-taker was initially named by Egyptian authorities as university professor Dr Ibrahim Samaha, but a man by that name denied having anything to do with the hijacking, saying he was a passenger who was among those released.
Dr Samaha described the situation on board during the flight, telling the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme: "We did not know what was going on. We got on board the plane and we were surprised that the crew took all our passports, which is unusual for a domestic flight.
“After a while we realised the altitude was getting higher, then we knew we were heading to Cyprus. At first the crew told us there was a problem with the plane and only later did we know it was hijacked.”
Press Association