A flight travelling from Dublin to Rome was forced to divert to a French airbase on Thursday morning following a bomb threat, according to the office of the French prime minister.
The Aer Lingus Airbus A320 had departed Ireland earlier in the day when it issued an emergency alert and was redirected to the Evreux airbase in northern France. The aircraft landed safely, and the airline confirmed that passengers would be re-accommodated to their final destination as soon as possible.
Second Emergency Alert on Same Day
In a separate incident, a Wizz Air flight bound for Warsaw from Milan also declared an emergency and diverted to Vienna, Austria. Authorities have not reported a bomb threat in connection with that flight, and the reason for the diversion remains unclear.
The two diversions come just days after a wave of suspected bomb threats disrupted air travel across Europe. On Tuesday, eight flights, including two departing from the United Kingdom, were targeted. Searches were carried out on each aircraft, and no explosives were discovered.
Earlier Threats Across the Continent
Among the flights affected earlier in the week was one travelling from Manchester to Murcia in Spain, and another from London Heathrow to Warsaw. Two Ryanair services, one leaving Dublin and another from Lisbon, were searched after landing in Rome following anonymous tips. Sources at Fiumicino airport told the BBC that police bomb disposal experts carried out standard security protocols to protect passengers and crew before the alert was cleared.
The UK government has described the earlier incidents as malicious hoax threats. The repeated disruptions have raised concerns about aviation security and the strain that false alarms place on airlines, airport staff, and emergency responders.
Aer Lingus said in a statement that flight EI402 from Dublin to Rome diverted to Normandy as a security precaution, adding that it would work to get customers to their final destination as quickly as possible. The airline did not provide further details on the nature of the threat.
French authorities have not commented on whether anything suspicious was found aboard the diverted aircraft. The investigation into the source of the threat is ongoing, and it is not yet known whether Thursday's incident is connected to the earlier hoaxes.
