Aer Lingus flight to Rome diverted to French airbase over bomb threat

An Airbus A320 flying from Dublin to Rome was diverted to France's Evreux airbase following a bomb threat. The office of French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu confirmed the incident on Thursday, noting that the situation was closely monitored. The Aer Lingus plane eventually landed safely at Evreux after declaring an in-flight emergency. All 151 passengers and six crew members were moved to a safe place while a bomb squad unit was deployed to the scene. Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 reported that the aircraft circled the Chartres airport in north-central France before heading toward the Evreux area.

Context

This incident follows a wider pattern of recent disruptions across Europe, where at least seven flights and a cruise ship received bomb threats on Tuesday. Authorities and security teams routinely treat all such warnings with extreme caution, often diverting planes to military or isolated airbases to ensure passenger safety even when subsequent searches find no explosive devices.