An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to Normandy after a bomb alert, the French prime minister’s office said.
The plane landed safely at the Evreux military airbase, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s office said, after the aircraft declared an in-flight emergency.
All 151 passengers and six crew members are safe and military bomb defusal teams are examining the plane.
Flight-tracking sites showed that the plane was approaching Paris when it turned sharply off its trajectory and made several loops before heading toward Evreux.
Shortly after the incident was reported, Bulgaria said three aircraft had to carry out emergency landings due to bomb threats, local media reports, citing officials.
And according to Italian news agency Ansa, Italian airforce units safely escorted a Finnair plane, operating a Helsinki-Rome flight, to the Italian capital after it received a bomb alert.
The incidents come days after at least seven flights, including two from the UK, were affected by bomb threats, which caused unplanned landings and temporary airport closures.
At the time, a UK government spokesperson said the country was well-prepared for what it described as “malicious hoax threats like those we’ve seen today”.
It is not known who was behind those threats, but Matthew Borie of Osprey Flight Solutions, which advises airlines on flight threats, said the focus on Europe means “there could be a Russian angle”.
He said: “We need to keep in mind, though, that Iranian hybrid warfare is just as active in certain pockets of Europe as well.”
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
