Plane with ‘no-fly’ passenger diverted to Bangor

BANGOR – For the second time in less than a week, an international flight to Boston was diverted to Bangor International Airport after U.S. officials discovered a passenger’s name matched one on a federal no-fly list.

Alitalia Flight 618 from Milan, Italy, landed shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday after Transportation Security Administration authorities learned a male passenger on board had a “positive name match” to the no-fly list, Ann Davis, a TSA spokeswoman, said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the TSA decided the flight would not land in Boston,” Davis said Tuesday.

Authorities later confirmed that the man was actually on the list and that it was not a case of mistaken identity, as it had been last week when an Air France flight was diverted and a passenger was detained.

The nationality of the passenger was not immediately known. An Alitalia spokeswoman said only that the passenger was “not Italian.”

The man authorities removed Tuesday still was being processed Tuesday evening by federal customs and immigration officials to determine whether he should be admitted into the country, Davis said.

Gail Marcinkiewicz, an FBI spokeswoman, confirmed Tuesday evening that her agency interviewed the passenger but determined “he is of no interest to the FBI.”

The passenger, whom federal authorities have not identified, was removed from the flight without incident, Davis said. About 90 minutes after it landed, the flight, which had been carrying 116 passengers and a crew of 10, resumed its flight to Boston.

Federal authorities are looking into why the man on the no-fly list was allowed to get on the plane in the first place. Airlines are supposed to compare their passenger lists with the no-fly list before allowing passengers to board the plane, Davis said.

“Homeland Security is working with Alitalia to determine how this passenger was able to board the flight,” she said.

Federal authorities in the United States are alerted to the passenger list about 15 minutes after the flight takes off, Davis said.

Authorities were taking all precautions with Tuesday’s flight. Canadian jets escorted it until the plane reached U.S. airspace, where two F-15 Eagles from Otis Air Force National Guard base on Cape Cod, Mass., took over, according to reports.

Last Thursday, an Air France flight headed to Boston was diverted to BIA when a man with a similar name and the same date of birth as someone on the no-fly list was found to be on board. The man was removed, and the flight was allowed to resume.

Davis said that last week, the man’s name was one or two letters off, but he had an identical date of birth and that it was “critical to take every precaution.” The passenger was released and allowed to take a later flight, officials said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.