Southwest Airlines flight 318, the 4:05pm departure from Mexico City to San Antonio on Wednesday February 17, was cancelled approximately 90 minutes after its scheduled departure time because passengers reported that one of the two pilots never reported to the gate.

enelaire.mx, a Spanish news site that covers aviation in Mexico, reported on the story, but the details are not clear as to what
happened.

According to the story, a passenger reported that the pilot was arrested for carrying a concealed firearm that was detected at the security checkpoint at the MEX airport.

Here’s what the story says:

The pilot was arrested in the security filter they told us that for carrying a concealed weapon fire” reported a passenger on this flight to EnElAire.

“The flight had begun boarding, addressing even we saw one of the pilots and all surcharges. The other pilot never came. After about 90 minutes the flight was canceled and go through the security filter, the staff confirmed that the remaining pilot was arrested for carrying a gun “

But why the pilot had a firearm is a mystery to this story so far – could the pilot have been a Federal Flight Deck Officer? Or could the pilot have forgotten about a firearm in his bag? Or is it something else all together?

enelaire.com also reported that Southwest Airlines issued a statement that said that they are aware of a situation that occurred Wednesday afternoon in the Mexico City International Airport (MEX), and that they are cooperating with all of the relevant agencies while providing support and resources for their employee as well. They ended the statement with “We have no more details to provide at this time.”