European air traffic bomb threat alerts, Digi Mart USA News (Évreux, France): European air traffic was heavily disrupted for a third straight day on Thursday, November 5, following a series of false bomb alerts that had affected roughly twenty flights. An Aer Lingus aircraft flying from Dublin to Rome with 157 passengers on board was diverted to Évreux, in France, according to the source report.
The Évreux prosecutor’s office announced an inquiry into the pilot of the Aer Lingus flight, who reportedly initially refused to land at the Évreux military base and preferred a civilian airport. The French military sent two aircraft to escort the plane, which ultimately landed at Air Base 105 in the Eure prefecture.
The Irish pilot will be heard in a voluntary interview, and prosecutor Rémi Coutin said he would decide later whether to order police custody.
The source reports that at least twenty flights were targeted by false bomb alerts. According to the Italian news agency Ansa, two more flights were affected: a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome, which was escorted by military aircraft to Rome Fiumicino Airport, and a Wizz Air flight from Milan to Warsaw that was diverted to Vienna.
European Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said it was still “too early” to determine whether the alerts were linked, while stressing on X that “any threat against civilians is unacceptable.” The source notes that similar incidents had already been reported on Tuesday, November 3, involving flights to Warsaw and Sofia, a Ryanair flight from England to Spain, and two flights that landed in Rome.
Searches on board found no explosives.
The source also reports that a Wizz Air flight from Luton, England, to Sofia had made an emergency landing in Budapest the previous day, escorted by two Hungarian fighter jets. As of Thursday morning, French authorities had not released further information on any possible link between the Dublin-Rome incident and the series of false alerts.
