Low cost flights, fake illness and emergency landings: the new make -up of migrants to get to the EU
The phenomenon is called « Avión Patera », it is often organized on social media (or via WhatsApp) and sees the main director as Morocco and Turkey as the main director: once in flight the fake malaise takes place to divert to Spain or Italy
A fake illness, the flight that deflects in a European Union country to give rescue to the « unfortunate », the emergency landing, the escape from the plane as soon as the taverns open. Irregular immigration has found a new way to express itself: by booking a flight on a specific director – between Morocco and Turkey -, almost always with a low cost and organizing with others, in particular via social (Facebook) or Whatsapp, a medical emergency on board.
The slim start
The trend goes on in particular from the second half of 2021, for now it is « low intensity » – to put it in the words of an expert who deals with security on flights of a European airline – but worries because it can become a dynamic copied more and more non -EU, with significant consequences on the operations of the aviolinee. So much so that more than a few vector has inserted the phenomenon in its scenarios to be explored.
The flight to Lamezia Terme
The last case, in order of time, concerns Italy. At 8.20 pm on April 27, the crew of an Airbus A321neo of the Turkish low cost Pegasus took off by the « Sabiha Gökçen » airport of Istanbul and headed to Casablanca, in Morocco (PC651 flight), asked to divert to the nearest airport – the Calabrian one of Lamezia Terme – because a passenger on board, a 36 -year -old of Turkish origin, said he heard himself. bad.
Manhunt
At 8.49 pm the plane landed in Lamezia, but as soon as the paramedical staff rises on board three young Moroccans escaped. One of the three was stopped immediately (and repatriated using the same flight), to take the other two – which in the meantime headed towards the take -off and landing track – it was necessary to suspend the arrivals and departures for a few minutes. What have been blocked have asked for the « international protection ».
« Avión Patera »
The first to notice the phenomenon were the experts of Osprey Flight Solutions that call it « Avión Patera » (from the name of the boats used to transport migrants to the Mediterranean). « This method provides that groups of passengers create emergency situations on board commercial flights to force an EU airport landing, » he explained to Courier In recent months, Alexandra James, an Analyst of Ostprey Flight Solutions. « Once on the ground, the groups run towards the exit of the plane and disperse on the track with the aim of illegally entering » in Spain, in particular, but also in Italy.
The first cases
According to the security company, the first cases concerned the Iberian peninsula and always on the director Morocco (Casablanca) -Turchia (Istanbul). The first documented flight, on November 5, 2021 (flight Air Arabia 3o437), was hijacked towards Palma di Mallorca airport after a traveler pretended a diabetic crisis. « A case most likely linked to a private Facebook group called » Brooklyn « created by a Moroccan named Youssef Samir and with about 15 thousand followers », explains the expert. Of the 24 fleeing « two were not taken, perhaps they fled to Switzerland via Italia ».
The Maxi-Fuga of 2022
Two other flights – in 2022 – were diverted to Barcelona airport. One, of May 15, operated by Pegasus: about 20 Moroccans attempted to abandon the plane, but the safety personnel managed to close the doors in time, avoiding escape. On December 7, always aboard a Turkish low cost plane, a woman pretended to have entered the labor: 27 citizens of Morocco ran away at the landing. Of these 14 they were stopped immediately, 5 returned to the plane and one was arrested (together with the woman who was not pregnant). Of the 7 remaining traces were lost.
The advantages
« This modus operandi is preferable to other forms of irregular migration for two reasons – explains Ostprey -. Firstly, it is cheaper than the use of smugglers’ services. Trafficers ask for about 7 thousand euros to facilitate air transport through the use of false documentation and/or internal contacts. In this case, the episodes of « Avión Patera » are organized directly by migrants through social media ». Which requires « only the purchase of an air ticket for Turkey (on average less than 250 euros) ». But why the flights to the Anatolian peninsula? « Because Moroccan citizens are not required to enter the country. »
