Air New Zealand passenger describes lengthy safety ordeal after Sydney bomb threat

However, an hour later, the captain made a statement over the loudspeaker, saying that there was a security alert at the airport.

“It wasn’t until half an hour later that people started texting me saying, ‘Oh my gosh, are you okay,’” she said.

Lin started looking for security incidents at Sydney Airport but found nothing.

“It was another five or 10 minutes before it dawned on me that maybe we were the security incident,” she said.

“We, the passengers, received information from outside, and not from the plane itself, despite the fact that we were inside it.”

She said the feeling in the cabin was generally good.

“I started noticing that people started playing the news around me and people were finding out about it.

“People started looking out the windows and saying there were a lot of police cars and fire trucks and paramedics.”

Lin said disembarking the plane was slow and deliberately strict.

“We had to unload two rows at the same time. It took a very long time. It probably took more than an hour to get all the passengers off,” she said.

“We had to put our bags in two rows in the center of the room, surrounded by a bunch of police officers, while we stood against the wall.

“The policeman went with guard dogs to check, as far as I understand, explosives.

“We were then moved into the next corridor and each person was questioned by the police and asked if we had seen anything suspicious.

“After that, we were lined up behind massive gates and released only after everyone was questioned.”

Air New Zealand’s chief operational integrity and safety officer, Captain David Morgan, said the airline was “aware of a security incident” on flight NZ247.

Emergency services assessed the plane as the center of the reported threat, he said.

“Air New Zealand apologizes for the inconvenience caused to customers on both services.

“We are working with local authorities and following standard protocols established for such incidents,” he said.

“The safety of all passengers and crew is our top priority.”

This was reported to the Australian Federal Police. Herald their officers responded to an “incident” involving a plane landing at Sydney Airport.

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