Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1547510
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 NOVEMBER 2026 FEATURE Egyptair hijacking: The 24 hours that defined It's been 41 years since the world's deadliest hijack came to a tragic end in Malta. Malcolm Scerri Ferrante revisits the 1985 Egyptair hijacking by refering to a 2009 video interview he conducted with late prime minister, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, the man who negotiated with the hijackers "WE never had the intention of letting the plane fly again." Four decades after EgyptAir Flight 648 was hijacked to Mal- ta, those words capture the un- compromising position taken by then Prime Minister Kar- menu Mifsud Bonnici during one of the darkest episodes in Malta's modern history. In a lengthy interview which I conducted with him in 2009, Mifsud Bonnici gave a candid account of the crisis, including the decision to allow the air- craft to land, negotiations with hijackers who began shooting passengers, the involvement of foreign governments and the catastrophic Egyptian com- mando assault that ended the ordeal. His recollections offer a rare glimpse into decisions tak- en under extraordinary pres- sure. They also trigger impor- tant reflections into what really happened behind the scenes that night. 'It would have to land in the sea' Mifsud Bonnici had been prime minister for less than a year when the crisis erupted. He was attending a social event in Valletta when informed that a hijacked aircraft wanted to land in Malta. "We were objecting to its landing in Malta," he recalled. The runway lights at Luqa were initially switched off to prevent the airplane from landing. Per- mission was eventually granted after the pilot warned that the aircraft would otherwise have to ditch: "Without permission we would have to land in the sea, because we are running out of fuel." Mifsud Bonnici headed straight to the airport and took charge of Malta's response and negotiations. Once the aircraft landed, Malta now had to make sure it did not leave. Meanwhile, hostages began being killed, and so the run- way was obstructed to pre- vent another take-off. Mifsud Bonnici said incoming flights were also stopped because the government feared Israeli com- mandos might intervene after learning that Israeli nationals were among the passengers. Fuel and a deadly waiting game At the heart of the confronta- tion was the hijackers' demand for fuel. Mifsud Bonnici dis- puted the suggestion that the killings followed Malta's failure to meet that demand. Asked why the hijackers be- gan shooting passengers, his answer was striking: "I don't know why. Why they started picking up the Israelis and the Americans and shooting them. I don't know." Control-tower recordings present a more complicated sequence. They show that the hijackers demanded fuel soon after landing and subsequent- ly threatened to shoot passen- gers. Those threats were even- tually carried out while their demand remained unmet. Mifsud Bonnici acknowl- edged that Malta was deliber- ately ambiguous. The govern- ment wanted the hijackers to believe that releasing their hos- tages might produce a compro- mise. "We gave them the im- pression that if they release the hostages, they would be given fuel," he said. Then came the crucial qualification: "But we would never have done that." Once the passengers were safe, he reasoned, Malta would no longer be under pressure to comply. "We were not specific about that," he admitted, "but we never had the intention of letting the plane fly again." It was a calculated negotiating strategy—keep alive the possi- bility of fuel without commit- ting to provide it, in the hope that the hijackers would release the passengers. The aftermath of the botched rescue operation conducted by Egyptian commandos. The hijacking and subsequent rescue operation left 60 people dead, including two hijackers, and 34 injured, including one hijacker (Photo: Still from Bla Rispetti/TVM) The late Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici was prime minister in 1985 and took charge of the negotiations with the hijackers from the control tower (Photo: MaltaToday)