At least a dozen flights have been diverted from their intended destinations since this morning due to bomb threats.
The planes – including an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome and Ryanair flight from London Stansted to Sofia – have all reported landing safely in France, Austria and Bulgaria.
It follows at least ten similar cases earlier this week.
Aer Lingus said in a statement that flight EI402 from Dublin to Rome “diverted to Normandy this morning as a security precaution. The flight landed safely and Aer Lingus will work to reaccommodate customers to their final destination as soon as possible.”
According to the news agency, Ansa, Italian police believe the threats to the Dublin to Rome flight, and another flight between Helsinki and Rome, were contained in an anonymous email sent to Rome’s airport operator, Aeroporti di Roma (ADR).
The email was reportedly written in Italian with the subject line “threat warning”.
The Aer Lingus flight was diverted to Évreux air base north west of Paris. The French government confirmed the diversion was as a result of a bomb threat.
Around ten commercial flights in Europe were targeted by bomb threats on Tuesday, which turned out to be false.
According to the Guardian newspaper, flight impacted today include:
- EI-DEH Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome, diverted to Evreux, France
- FR6410 Ryanair flight from Madrid to Sofia
- FR3606 Ryanair flight from Copenhagen to Sofia
- FR1730 Ryanair flight from London Stansted to Sofia, diverted to Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- LO235 LOT Polish Airlines flight from Warsaw to Brussels
- W46387 WizzAir flight from Milan Malpensa to Warsaw-Okęcie, diverted to Vienna, Austria
- AY1761 FinnAir flight from Helsinki to Rome Fiumicino
- AY 1471 FinnAir flight from Helsinki to Vienna
- W43064 WizzAir flight from Milan-Malpensa to Bucharest
- A3552 Aegean Airlines flight from Thessaloniki to Milan-Malpensa
- FR8953 Ryanair flight from Porto to Milan-Malpensa
European Transport Commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, said that the EU was monitoring developments closely:
“Any threats against civilians are unacceptable. Ensuring the safety and security of citizens remains a priority. We are closely monitoring the situation and are in contact with the affected Member States.
I have been in contact with European Aviation Safety Agency today about the recent events. We discussed any potential aviation safety implications. Responsibility for assessing security threats, investigating incidents and implementing appropriate aviation security measures rests primarily with the relevant national authorities, in cooperation with airport operators, airlines and law enforcement authorities.
It is too early to draw conclusions on whether the reported incidents are linked. National investigations remain ongoing. The EU-level information sharing mechanism has been activated related to aviation security. We don’t have information yet whether this is a cyber attack.”