Two NATO fighter jets intercept a Cathay Pacific Airbus.

Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department (CAD) has expressed serious concern and demanded an official investigation following an air safety incident in which a commercial Cathay Pacific flight was intercepted mid-air by two Hungarian NATO fighter jets.

A rapid-response alert was triggered at 1:51 PM from the Kecskemét military base, southeast of Budapest, after the Airbus A350 operating flight CX257 from Hong Kong to London experienced a temporary, unexplained loss of radio contact while flying over Romanian airspace, prompting Allied command to immediately deploy aircraft for visual identification.

While Cathay Pacific management quickly confirmed the technical outage—emphasizing that the aircraft had strictly adhered to its original flight plan and that passenger safety was never compromised—Hong Kong aviation authorities have nonetheless ordered the carrier to submit a detailed investigation report within seven days.

Revealed on social media by Hungarian Defense Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, this emergency interception highlights the rapid response capabilities of European air defense protocols during a period of heightened geopolitical tension, turning a routine technical glitch into a high-security military escort operation.