A passenger plane of the Turkish airline BBN Airlines, which was on its way from Oslo, Norway, to Antalya, was forced to change its route and enter the closed airspace of Ukraine. The incident occurred due to an approaching storm, the airline’s representatives said. This information was provided by the Norwegian news agency NRK.
According to Flightradar24, online flight tracking maps, the Airbus A320-200 BBN Airlines changed course and flew over Ukraine, which was closed after the start of the war.
The incident happened at the end of July, but it became known only recently. For two hours, it moved through the southwest of Ukraine, along the borders of Zakarpattia and Chernivtsi regions, and then entered the airspace of Romania. It was not specified how many tourists were in the airliner at that time, but it is known that the A320 model can carry approximately 180 people.
As the carrier specified, the incident occurred due to an approaching storm, which forced the crew to change the route. A representative of the airline also added: “We understand the concern caused by this incident and ensure that we will take proactive measures to prevent similar incidents.”
Reference: BBN Airlines, a subsidiary of Bluebird Nordic and part of Avia Solutions Group, plans to rebrand. The expected new name is BBN Airlines Nordic. The carrier’s fleet includes Boeing freighters, including converted A321 freighters operated by SmartLynx Airlines and SmartLynx Airlines Malta.