Private jet intercepted

According to The Times last week a private jet flying from London to France was intercepted and sent back to the UK.

The Embraer Legacy 600 large business jet took a party of ten middle-aged men and women to Marseille Provence airport.  The plan was to transfer to three helicopters and fly on to a rented villa in the Cannes area.

The organiser was a Croatian, working in banking in Britain, a police source told the news service BFM.  The others in the group included German, French, Romanian and Ukrainian nationals.

The gendarmerie perceived it as a recreational trip and under the containment measures they turned the passengers around.

France has been in lockdown since 17 March.  The helicopter pilots were fined but the tourists, who did not get off the aircraft, essentially deported without setting foot in France.

https://executive.embraer.com/global/en/legacy-650e

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

Malcolm Ginsberg, London

The article was correct with the facts. The image used clearly said that the aircraft did not originate from London City Airport. It is misleading as it appears that the trip was some kind of leisure flight by a very rich sponsor. I am now lead to believe that the movement was legitimate but not necessarily approved in certain French circles, hence the misinformed leak to the local media.

C Orphanou, London

Dear Sir, Your article 'Private Jet Intercepted' is laden with errors... the use of the LCY's FBO airside view, the fact that the article refers to a private jet on its way to France and concludes that aircraft was then chneged to a helicopter. Should we lose faith in the accuracy of your articles?

W Tahil,

According to the French press the males were aged 40-50 and the females 20-25. The pilot was told not to land but did anyway. When they landed they tried calling local "contacts" to try and pull strings to have the police called off. This failed.

Malcolm Ginsberg, London

It seems it was a serious charter flight for proper reasons, but upset the French, who leaked the story. Had it been a Dassault it might had got through!

David Starkie, London

So what have the British authorities done in relation to this case of non-essential travel? If the French fined the heli owners should the Legacy owner be pursued (as well as the pax)?