A Continental Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey to Bogota, Colombia was diverted to Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday because a passenger was an “apparent match” to a name on the government’s watch list of suspected terrorists banned from commercial flights, Florida Today reported.
It turned out to be a case of mistaken identity when authorities later determined the person was not on the no-fly list.
Sources told Fox News the passenger had a name very similar to someone on the no-fly list, but it is not the same person.
Continental flight 881, a Boeing 737, left Newark at 3:03 p.m., according to the FAA. It landed safely in Jacksonville at 5:36 p.m.
The passenger, who was one of 75 on board, was given clearance from the FBI at Jacksonville International Airport to continue on the flight to Colombia, the Transportation Security Administration said.
The government is on high alert following the bombing attempt on a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day.
An investigation is expected to be launched into how the passenger was allowed to board the plane before he was positively deemed safe.
It was not immediately clear whether the passenger went through additional screening in Newark before boarding the plane.
Airlines are currently issued with no information about passengers other than names on the no-fly list. That means if a person has a name similar to someone on the no-fly list, that person goes through additional screening and in some instances banned from boarding the flight.
But a new government program, Secure Flight, will be launched in March providing more details about the passenger in question, including the passenger’s gender, birth date and full name as it appears on the government identification.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is charged with attempting to blow up Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day, was not on the government’s no-fly list or the list of people who should receive additional screening before boarding a plane.
There are more than 3,000 names on the no-fly list and about 14,000 names on a list of people who require extra scrutiny.