Detailed Summary
- The hijacking was an act of terrorism committed by members of the Palestinian Group, Black September, which was responsible for the Munich Massacre on September 5th, 1972.
- On October 29th, 1972, members of Black September hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615 in an attempt to liberate the three surviving perpetrators of the Munich Massacre.
- The original flight was scheduled to fly from Damascus to Frankfurt. The Black September members boarded the flight at the Beirut-Ankara stopover of the multi-leg flight.
- The plane took off at 7:01 and less than fifteen minutes after take off, the hijackers took control of the airplane. The hijackers threatened to blow up the airplane with explosives that were hidden in the first class cabin. The hijackers demanded an exchange of the plane and its hostages for the three surviving perpetrators of the Munich Massacre.
- The West German Government realized that they did not want another outcome similar to the Munich Massacre so they decided to meet the hijackers' demands.
- After a fuel stop at the Nicosia International Airport, the hijackers forced the pilots to fly to the Munich-Riem Airport, where the hijackers believed that the exchange to take place. However, the German Government changed the plan of the exchange to occur at the Zagreb Airport.
- Once the plane landed at the Zagreb Airport at 18:05, the three Black September members responsible for the Munich Massacre were handed over, but the 18 hostages were not released. The German Authorities threatened to not fuel the airplane if the hostages were not released, but the hijackers then threatened to kill all the hostages on board.
- The plane landed at the Tripoli International Airport at 21:03, where the surviving perpetrators were treated as heroes and the 18 hostages were released.