Virgin jet forced to land in Moscow

A Virgin airliner was forced to land at Moscow Airport yesterday after allegedly violating Russian airspace following a bureaucratic bungle.

More than 250 passengers were grounded in sweltering heat for eight hours. Russian officials refused to let them off the plane because they did not have visas

Virgin was using a new route across Russia, which slices 45 minutes off the 14-hour journey time to Hong Kong. The flight was the first to use the new northerly route, which the company had negotiated with the Russian authorities at a cost of pounds 3m.

After a series of agitated warnings from Russian air traffic controllers the pilot was ordered to land at Sheremetyevo Airport.

"Although we had reached agreement and filed a flight plan, the pilot quite rightly decided not to argue [with the controllers] and landed immediately,'' a Virgin spokesman said.

Robert Marshall, one of the passengers, said: "The Russians are idiots. I thought the Cold War was over.''

Virgin officials said many passengers were angry over the forced landing

The Virgin spokesman added: "Passengers were furious and some demanded to know why we didn't ignore the order to land and take them to Hong Kong. As far as we're concerned, safety is far more important than any delay."