Editing Aircraft hijacking (section)

=== 1980–2000 ===
By 1980, airport screening and greater cooperation from the international community led to fewer successful hijackings; the number of events had significantly dropped below the 1968 level.<ref>{{cite news|title=The FBI Encyclopedia|last1=Newton|first1=Michael|date=2003|publisher=McFarland|page=315}}</ref> Between 1978 and 1988, there were roughly 26 incidents of hijackings a year.<ref name=":1" /> A new threat emerged in the 1980s: [[Terrorism|organised terrorists]] destroying aircraft to draw attention. For instance, terrorist groups were responsible for the bombing of [[Air India Flight 182]] over the Irish coast. In 1988, [[Pan Am Flight 103]] was bombed flying over Scotland.<ref name=":1" /> Terrorist activity which included hijack attempts in the Middle East were also a cause of concern.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Plane clothes: lack of anonymity at the Federal Air Marshal Service compromises aviation and national security: investigative report|last=On The Judiciary|first=The Committee|publisher=Diane Publishing|year=2006|isbn=978-1428994294}}</ref>

During the 1990s, there was relative peace in the United States airspace as the threat of domestic hijacking was seen as a distant memory.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Miller|first=John M.|date=2007-09-01|title=Conceptualizing the Hijacking Threat to Civil Aviation|journal=Criminal Justice Review|language=en|volume=32|issue=3|pages=209–232|doi=10.1177/0734016807306152|s2cid=146335051|issn=0734-0168}}</ref> Globally, however, hijackings still persisted. Between 1993 and 2003, the highest number of hijackings occurred in 1993 (see table below). This number can be attributed to events in [[China]] where hijackers were trying to gain political asylum in Taiwan.<ref name=":5" /> Europe and the rest of [[East Asia]] were not immune either. On December 26, 1994, [[Air France Flight 8969]] with 172 passengers and crew was hijacked after leaving [[Algiers]]. Authorities believed that the goal was to crash the plane into the [[Eiffel Tower]]. On June 21, 1995, [[All Nippon Airways Flight 857]] was hijacked by a man claiming to be a member of the [[Aum Shinrikyo]] religious cult, demanding the release of its imprisoned leader [[Shoko Asahara]]. The incident was resolved when the police stormed the plane.

On October 17, 1996, the first hijacking that was brought to an end while airborne was carried out by four operatives of the [[Austria]]n [[List of special law enforcement units|special law enforcement unit]] [[EKO Cobra|Cobra]] on a [[Russian Federation|Russian]] [[Aeroflot]] flight from [[Malta]] to [[Lagos]], [[Nigeria]], aboard a [[Tupolev Tu-154]]. The operatives escorted inmates detained for deportation to their homelands and were equipped with weapons and gloves.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://special-ops.org/5332/einsatzkommando-cobra-eko-cobra/|title = Einsatzkommando Cobra – EKO Cobra|date = 3 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.bmi.gv.at/207/Publikationen/files/LawOrder.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.bmi.gv.at/207/Publikationen/files/LawOrder.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Cobra: Austria's Special Police Commandos |magazine=Law and Order |date=July 2009 |pages=48–52 |access-date=May 24, 2022}}</ref> On 12 April 1999, six [[National Liberation Army (Colombia)|ELN]] members hijacked a [[Fokker 50]] of [[Avianca]] [[Avianca Flight 9463|Flight 9463]], flying from [[Bucaramanga]] to [[Bogotá]]. Many hostages were held for more than a year, and the last hostage was finally freed 19 months after the hijacking.<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/apr/28/features11.g23| title=Terror on flight 9463| newspaper=The Guardian| date=1999-04-28| access-date=2018-10-27| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022232744/https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/apr/28/features11.g23| archive-date=2018-10-22| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>"Recordando los 10 años del secuestro del Fokker de Avianca". Noticias ABC colombia.</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|+Annual hijack incidents, 1993–2003<ref name=":5" />
!Year
|1993
|1994
|1995
|1996
|1997
|1998
|1999
|2000
|2001
|2002
|2003
!Total
|-
!Number
|50
|25
|8
|16
|12
|14
|12
|22
|5
|5
|7
|176
|}