WARSAW (The Thursday Times) — Bomb threats hit four European passenger flights on Tuesday, forcing one Warsaw airport to close for a time, but every plane landed safely and no explosives were found, authorities said.
Two of the threats targeted flights heading to the Polish capital: a Scandinavian Airlines service from Copenhagen and a LOT Polish Airlines flight from London Heathrow.
The Scandinavian Airlines plane landed normally at Warsaw’s Chopin airport, which closed a runway while the aircraft was searched. The LOT flight, a Boeing 737 MAX, was diverted to Warsaw Modlin, the city’s second airport, which shut until the checks were finished. “The passengers were evacuated and the plane underwent security checks. Nothing was found,” said Modlin spokesman Adam Szablowski.
In Spain, the airport operator Aena activated its emergency protocol for a Ryanair flight from Manchester to Murcia. It landed without incident and the alert was lifted after checks by the Civil Guard. A Wizz Air flight from Bergamo, Italy, was inspected after landing in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.
The threats came a day after a Wizz Air flight from London Luton to Sofia made an emergency stop in Budapest because of a bomb threat. Hungary’s defence minister, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, said Gripen fighter jets took to the air within minutes and saw the plane land safely. Last month, on October 19, a bomb threat forced an Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna to reroute to Bulgaria, and again no explosives were found.
Authorities have not said who was behind Tuesday’s threats or whether they are linked.
