On Monday morning the hijacked Ethiopian airplane entered Italian airspace and was duly met by an escort of Italian air force jets. The Italians passed the escort over to the French on Monday morning as the plane entered French airspace and then as the plane approached Swiss airspace, its final destination being Geneva/Genf, the French attempted to hand the escort over to the Swiss airforce.
Unfortunately it was by now only about 6 am and it turns out that the Swiss airforce does not come to work until 8 am (week days).
"Switzerland cannot intervene because its airbases are closed at night and on the weekend," spokesman Laurent Savary told AFP
It also appears that airbases close for 90 minutes for lunch.
Time for a change of career me thinks.
