EgyptAir Flight 648 was a regularly scheduled international flight between Athens Ellinikon International Airport in Greece and Cairo International Airport in Egypt . On 23 November 1985 , a Boeing 737-200 airliner , registered SU-AYH , servicing the flight was hijacked by the terrorist organization Abu Nidal . The subsequent raid on the aircraft by Egyptian troops resulted in dozens of deaths , making the hijacking of Flight 648 one of the deadliest such incidents in history . On 23 November 1985 , Flight 648 took off at 8 pm on its Athens-to-Cairo route . Ten minutes after takeoff , three Palestinian members of Abu Nidal hijacked the aircraft , the same group also responsible for the hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 a year later . The terrorists , calling themselves the Egypt Revolution , were heavily armed with guns and grenades . The terrorist leader , Omar Rezaq , proceeded to check all passports . At this point , an Egyptian Security Service agent , Mustafa Kamal , aboard opened fire , killing one terrorist before being wounded along with two flight attendants . In the exchange of fire the fuselage was punctured , causing a rapid depressurization . The aircraft was forced to descend to to allow the crew and passengers to breathe
Pan Am Flight 73
Pan Am Flight 73
EgyptAir Flight 648