AP
Posted: 2008-01-22 21:30:22SINGAPORE, Jan. 23 (Kyodo) - Two Singapore air force fighters intercepted a small civilian aircraft that intruded into the city-state’s airspace late Tuesday, forcing Changi Airport to close for nearly an hour, officials said Wednesday.

The Cessna 208 aircraft “was heading toward Singapore airspace without an approved flight plan,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

In response, two F-16 “fighters were scrambled to intercept (the) civilian aircraft” at about 6.42 p.m. local time, escorting it to land at Changi Airport,” it said.

The ministry determined it was “not a terrorist threat.”

But the incident led to the airport being closed for almost an hour from 7 p.m., the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said.

The temporary closure delayed two dozen incoming and outgoing flights, one of which had to be diverted to a small airport in neighboring Malaysia’s southern state of Johor.

The Straits Times newspaper reported that the plane was flying in from the Thai resort island of Koh Samui.

Police are investigating the case.

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Follow up:

Aussie pair shuts down airspace
January 24, 2008 11:33am

TWO Australians in a light plane were encircled by fighter jets and forced 16 commercial flights to circle, waiting to land, after wandering into Singapore’s airspace.

The pair were flying a Cessna 208 Caravan floatplane which approached on Tuesday night without an approved flight plan, prompting two air force F16 fighter jets to scramble during Changi airport’s busiest period, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.

The single engine aircraft was coming from Thailand’s Koh Samui island.

The missile-armed fighters tracked the Cessna as it flew toward the city-state before intercepting it and signalling it to land at the central runway, The Straits Times said.

The two Australians were escorted away by police, who are investigating the incident.

The aircraft was bought this month by Mary Cummins, who co-owned a tourist adventure flight company with Rhys Thomas, a former pilot with Australian airline Ansett, the newspaper said.

The plane had previously been flown by an airline in Koh Samui.

The shutdown of commercial airspace affected a total of 23 aircraft, disrupting flights in and out of Changi and cost thousands of dollars in fuel lost as the airliners circled Singapore while waiting to land.

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