An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to a French military base after a bomb threat, with all 151 passengers and six crew members safely on the ground.
The French Prime Minister's Office confirmed the diversion, stating that a bomb alert led to the aircraft being redirected. The plane had declared an in-flight emergency before landing safely at Evreux airbase, located around 3km east of Normandy.
Military Response and Escort
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's office also confirmed that all passengers and crew are safe. Military bomb defusal teams are currently examining the aircraft.
Le Figaro reported that the plane was escorted on approach to the military base by a French Rafale fighter jet. BFMTV reports that the original bomb threat alert came from the Italian authorities.
Flight Path and Tracking
The flight was approaching Paris when it turned sharply off its trajectory and made several loops before diverting to Evreux, according to Flightradar24. The flight tracker website noted that no aircraft had departed from Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) in the past 30 minutes.
Broader Context of Threats
Earlier in the week, seven passenger planes across Europe, two of which departed from the UK, were inspected following a series of suspected bomb threats. No explosives were found on two Ryanair flights, one originating from Dublin and the other from Lisbon, which were searched after landing in Rome on Tuesday (November 3).
Planes were also searched in Poland, Spain and Bulgaria. Authorities from various countries are co-operating to assess whether it was a co-ordinated attack, with no official link between the incidents confirmed.
Issuing a statement, the UK government described the incidents as 'malicious hoax threats'. It said it had 'one of the most robust aviation security systems in the world, with well-tested processes for dealing with any potential threats, as well as malicious hoax threats, like those we've seen today'.
