United Airlines flight UA168, travelling from Tel Aviv to Newark Liberty International Airport, has been diverted to Athens International Airport in the early hours of Monday morning local time. The diversion comes during a week in which a number of flights across Europe have been affected by bomb threats.
The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which was heading from Israel to the airport serving New York, looped around mid-flight and appeared to change its trajectory towards the Greek airport before landing. The reason for the diversion has not yet been disclosed.
Emergency code 7700 reports
There have been unconfirmed reports that the aircraft transmitted emergency code 7700, the international aviation emergency signal used when an aircraft requires priority assistance from air traffic control.
The diversion follows a string of hoax threats that have caused disruption at airports across Europe over the past week.
Widespread hoax threats across Europe
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.
Airports confirm threats
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. United Airlines has been contacted for further information on the incident.
