Nocturnal 
A Ryanair flight bound for Dublin was forced to turn back to Porto after the pilot reportedly transmitted a code used to signal a possible hijacking or cockpit intrusion.
Flight FR7073 took off from Porto Airport at 10.25pm on Tuesday but returned to the Portuguese city shortly afterwards, following what Ryanair described as a “false security report”.
According to the Mirror, a 48-year-old woman on board is said to have handed a flight attendant several sheets of paper claiming she was being followed by three people, and asked for the note to be passed to the pilot.
What the squawk code means
Portuguese media reported that the pilot entered the squawk code 7500 into the aircraft’s transponder before the plane turned around, as first noted by JOE. The code is used to discreetly alert air traffic control to unlawful interference, such as a hijacking or someone forcing their way into the cockpit.
Former TAP Air Portugal pilot and aviation author José Correia Guedes appeared to confirm the sequence of events, writing on X that the captain entered the code after passing 12,000 feet and requested radar vectors back to Porto, with air traffic control notifying the authorities.
“When code 7500 is entered into an aircraft’s transponder, an alarm is automatically triggered on the air traffic controllers’ panels,” he wrote, adding that a confirmation step follows “because sometimes the code is entered by mistake”.
He said the Boeing 737 landed “without problems” back at Porto near midnight, with Portuguese police (PSP) taking charge of the incident once it was on the ground.
Passenger removed and identified
The woman was removed from the aircraft after it landed and was identified by local authorities, according to reports. Accounts of exactly what happened next differ between Portuguese outlets.
Correio da Manha reported that the woman was allowed back on the plane after being identified, “without police verifying her allegations”. Other Portuguese media instead described the passenger’s behaviour as “disorderly” and claimed she was escorted from the airport by police.
It remains unclear which version is accurate, and Nocturnal News has not been able to independently verify either account. No criminal charges have been reported at this stage.
Flight eventually reached Dublin
The aircraft departed Porto again at around 1.30am and landed in Dublin at approximately 3.15am, roughly two-and-a-half hours behind schedule.
A Ryanair spokesperson told the Mirror and Metro: “This flight from Porto to Dublin (22 Sep) returned to Porto shortly after take-off due to a false security report, which was quickly resolved before the flight continued to Dublin following a 2hr 33mins delay.”
The airline has not commented further on the nature of the passenger’s claims or the discrepancies in local reporting. As it stands, the incident is being treated as a false alarm, with the flight ultimately completing its journey safely.
