United Airlines flight UA168, travelling from Tel Aviv to Newark Liberty International Airport in New York, was diverted to Athens International Airport in Greece after an odour was reported in the cabin. The flight landed safely, and passengers deplaned normally.
Diversion to Athens
The aircraft changed its trajectory mid-flight, looping around before heading to the Greek airport. The exact cause of the odour has not been confirmed. There were 230 passengers and 13 crew members on board.
United Airlines issued a statement saying: "United flight 168 from Tel Aviv to Newark diverted to Athens and landed safely to address an odour in the cabin. Passengers deplaned normally, and we are arranging for a different aircraft to take them to Newark."
Context of Recent Airport Disruptions
The diversion follows a series of hoax threats that have caused disruption at airports across Europe in the past week. On Tuesday, seven flights across Europe, two of which had departed from the UK, were subjected to bomb threats. Two days later, on Thursday, hoax bomb threats targeted at least 27 flights in Europe.
Fighter jets were scrambled to escort an Aer Lingus aircraft over France, a Finnair plane over Italy, and three Ryanair flights over Bulgaria. On Friday, flights to and from countries including the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Italy and Romania were affected by similar threats.
Wider Impact on European Air Travel
Two flights departing from and arriving in Rome were targeted. Prague Airport also confirmed it received repeated threats on planes travelling to and from the airport. Danish police said they are investigating threats directed towards air traffic at Copenhagen Airport. Nine of the affected flights in total were either heading to or departing from Václav Havel Airport in Prague, an airport spokesperson said.
