French air force escorts Dublin-Rome flight as several European flights receive bomb threats and divert

Flight diverted to Evreux

An Aer Lingus Airbus A320 flying from Dublin to Rome changed course near Paris after a bomb threat and headed to the Evreux airbase. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s office said on Thursday it was monitoring events in real time.

The French air force said it sent aircraft after the report and escorted the passenger plane to Evreux. Lecornu’s office later confirmed that the aircraft landed safely.

Other European landings reported

Authorities reported several unscheduled or high-alert landings in France, Italy, Belgium and Bulgaria. Some planes landed in Evreux and Bulgaria, while a flight from Finland arrived in Rome as scheduled with a military escort.

Another flight landed in Brussels amid a security threat. The France incident was reported first, followed soon after by accounts of similar incidents elsewhere.

Earlier threats were hoaxes

The latest disruptions follow bomb threats against several European flights earlier in the week. Those threats proved to be hoaxes, but led to diversions and large security mobilizations; in one case, Italy’s air force escorted a plane to an emergency landing.

The threats affected airlines including Poland’s LOT, Scandinavian Airlines, Wizz Air and Ryanair. It remains unclear whether the aviation incidents are connected to apparent cyberattacks affecting freezer units at major supermarkets and French blood banks.

Possible wider disruption

The incidents are still developing, and no connection between the aviation threats and the reported cyberattacks has been established. The article describes the events as having possible features of hybrid attacks intended to cause substantial disruption with limited effort and resources.