Air Malta Flight 830

Air Malta flight KM 830, (Boeing 737-2Y5(Adv), Registration 9H-ABF, Construction Number 23848/1418 named Zurrieq) bound for Istanbul with 90 passengers on board was hijacked 20 minutes after take off on June 9 1997 and diverted to Cologne. The Air Malta aircraft was hijacked by two men. One of the men went into the cockpit and showed the pilot what looked like sticks of dynamite strapped to his chest. Once in Cologne they asked for a doctor, a Turkish interpreter and a television crew to release a statement. The hijackers demanded the release of Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Ağca, who at the time was serving a life sentence in Italy after trying to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981. However three hours after landing, the men left the plane with their hands in the air. German police found no explosives on the aircraft and all passengers were released unharmed.

This was the first time that terrorists had deliberately targeted a Maltese asset causing a degree of concern on the island. It became apparent that terrorists will target anybody and anything as long as they are given media coverage and attract attention and sympathy. In fact the news was given quite a degree of attention by the international media with reports appearing across the world. It should be noted that the hijacking might have been the cause of a sharp, sudden drop in Maltese tourism in June 1997 – tourism in June 1997 dropped by 2,452 to 98,609 from 101,061 in June 1996. In the first six months of 1997, total arrivals had increased 5.5 per cent when all of a sudden it dropped by 2.5% in June 1997.

The Prime Minister of the time, Dr. Alfred Sant, had ordered an immediate administrative enquiry to investigate security procedures conducted at the MIA vis-à-vis the hijacked aircraft – how and if they were followed and if there was room for improvement.