Always felt you were less safe flying the likes of Ryanair and there it is in black and white. I've contracted as a captain in Libya, where from time to time I'd to divert so as to ensure the safety of passengers amongst a potentially hostile militia.
And here's a flight being offered the sanctuary of Europe's most notorious dictatorship when a landing at the original destination is by far simplest and safest. Bear in mind the crew were not reportedly threatened with shooting down, but advised to divert due a (fictional) bomb on board.
The accompaniment of a fighter jet incidentally is fairly standard, as its any state's on-call solution to requiring an airframe fast enough to intercept an airliner (though in the case of Concorde, few could). Happens on a regular basis unknown to the press or you and I, and not an indication that you're about to be shot down.
Fact is, with any number of the newer generation of airlines, you're going to the supermarket for factory-harvested chlorinated cuts of chicken shipped from the Far East in refrigerated containers, rather than to the butcher and his Bresse.
You pays your money ~ or with your life as a journalist ~ and you takes your choice.
There'll be much hand-wringing in the bloated EU and febrile UK, but as both Russia and China know, we couldn't punch our way out of a wet paper bag and nor is the US likely to intervene.
And who could blame them? God helps those who help themselves.
