The Italian news agency ANSA reported that two bomb threats targeted two separate flights on Thursday. The first involved a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome, while the second involved a Wizz Air flight from Milan to Warsaw, which was diverted to Vienna.
A spokesperson for Rome’s airports confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that military aircraft escorted the Finnair plane from Helsinki until it landed at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport.
Meanwhile, French authorities announced that a civilian A320 aircraft travelling from Dublin to Rome, which had been diverted due to a bomb threat, landed on Thursday morning at the Évreux airbase in northwestern France.
As of Thursday morning, French authorities had not clarified whether this incident was part of a series of bomb threats that were later found to be false and had affected around 10 civilian aircraft bound for European airports on Tuesday, according to the authorities in the countries concerned.
The French Prime Minister’s Office reassured the public that all 151 passengers and six crew members on board the aircraft were "safe", adding that bomb disposal teams were currently searching the plane.
The French Air and Space Force told AFP that its aircraft had "taken off to intercept the civilian plane following suspicions of a bomb on board". It added that "the plane was diverted and escorted to Évreux Airport".
Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed that the aircraft operated by Irish airline Aer Lingus landed at Évreux Airport at 10:05 a.m. local time (09:05 GMT).
In a statement, Aer Lingus confirmed that flight AI402 had "landed safely" and said the airline was working to transport passengers to their final destination "as soon as possible".
On Tuesday, at least four bomb threats were reported on Ryanair flights, including one travelling from the English city of Manchester to Murcia, Spain; another from Lisbon to Rome; a third from Dublin to the Italian capital; and a fourth from Dublin to Sofia.
The threats also affected two flights bound for Warsaw: one operated by Scandinavian airline SAS, which had departed from Copenhagen, and another operated by Polish airline LOT, which had taken off from Heathrow Airport, according to Polish authorities. A Wizz Air flight travelling between the Italian city of Bergamo and Sofia was also targeted.
No explosive devices were found on any of the aircraft, all of which underwent thorough searches after landing.
On Monday, a Wizz Air flight travelling from Luton Airport in England to Sofia was also targeted by a bomb threat and forced to make an emergency landing in Budapest under escort by two Hungarian fighter jets.
