After no doubt weighing its many options for the best way to fly anywhere, a local bird decided to surreptitiously board a Singapore Airlines flight last Monday. More than a few feathers were probably ruffled — the stowaway was stuck on the plane for about 14 hours in its journey from Singapore to London.
Passengers on the Singapore flag carrier got a truly Singaporean experience when a Javan Mynah — the starling native to Asia and very commonly seen around here — flew into the business-class section about 12 hours into the flight to Heathrow Airport. A video captured of the incident showed the bird casually perched on a passenger’s headrest, unperturbed about the impromptu long-distance migration. the mynah managed to dart off when an air steward tried to wrangle it.
An SIA spokesman confirmed in a statement yesterday that a bird was indeed found on flight SQ322 on Jan 7, and that it was handed over to animal quarantine authorities as soon as the aircraft touched down in London.
Birds ending up inside flights are rare, but not unheard of. Back in 2017, an Atlanta-bound Delta Airlines flight turned around back to Detroit after a sparrow flew into the plane’s cockpit and went nuts. Last year, a bird entertained passengers onboard a Bangkok-Doha flight as it flew around the cabin attempting to escape.
SIA did not clarify how the bird managed to sneak into the aircraft, but it’s highly likely that it would not have been able to afford a business-class ticket.
