In flight, the copilot contracted air traffic control to alert authorities he had hijacked. Passengers were initially unaware of the hijacking however, things became clear something was wrong when the copilot announced over the intercom system he would crash the plane. 

The aircraft rapidly descended, many passengers were jolted in their seats, one passenger had stated he thought the aircraft was falling from the sky. The aircrafts oxygen masks had deployed. 

For 90 minutes Fight 702 had circled Geneva Airport while Italian and French fighter jets were scrambled to assess the situation, the airport was then closed to all other traffic. The copilot had informed air traffic control that he was running dangerously low on fuel at which point the Boeing 767 was cleared to land.