The Smart Marty Sky Dispatch
Wave of bomb threats diverts several European flights
Among the flights affected were an Aer Lingus route from Dublin to Rome, a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome, a Belgian commercial airliner, and three aircraft which landed in Bulgaria.
Six European passenger planes were diverted after a wave of suspected bomb threats on Thursday morning.
An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to Evreux Fauville Air Base in France following a bomb alert, with the aircraft circling near Paris and declaring an in-flight emergency. The French prime minister’s office said it was monitoring the situation. Flightradar24 reported the squawk 7700 on the Dublin–Rome service.
Rome Fiumicino Airport was reportedly temporarily closed in response to the threat affecting multiple flights.
Within about an hour, five additional planes were diverted, with three landing at Bulgarian airports. Reports indicated two aircraft, en route from Copenhagen and Madrid, landed in Sofia, while another from London touched down in Plovdiv.
Separately, a Finnair spokesperson said one of its Rome-bound flights landed normally after receiving a bomb threat, according to the airline.
This is a developing story as authorities respond to the series of threats and manage landings across multiple European airports.