KLM Flight 861

KLM Flight 861

PH-BUA, the incident aircraft, at Faro Airport in 1988.
Hijacking
Date	November 25, 1973
Summary	Aircraft hijacking
Site	Dubai
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 747-206B
Aircraft name	Mississippi
Operator	KLM
Registration	PH-BUA
Flight origin	Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Stopover	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Destination	Tokyo, Japan
Passengers	247
Crew	17
Fatalities	0
Survivors	264 (all)

KLM Flight 861, operated by a Boeing 747 registered PH-BUA and named "Mississippi", was hijacked on November 25, 1973, by three young Arabs over Iraqi airspace on a scheduled Amsterdam-Tokyo flight with 247 passengers on board.

Incident

KLM Flight 861, captained by Issac Risseeuw, was a scheduled flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Tokyo-Haneda (HND) with planned stops at Athens (ATH), Beirut (BEY) and Delhi (DEL). The airplane was enroute over Iraq when it was hijacked by three passengers, claiming to be members of the Arab Youth Organization for the Liberation of Palestine. They forced the plane to Damascus, Nicosia, Tripoli, Malta, and finally Dubai where the hijackers surrendered to authorities.

Aftermath

The hijack was claimed by the Arab Nationalist Youth Organization. The flight number is still used for the Amsterdam to Tokyo direct route.