{"id":676678,"date":"2026-11-06T11:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T11:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/676678\/"},"modified":"2026-11-06T11:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T11:18:09","slug":"aer-lingus-pilot-under-investigation-for-refusing-to-land-at-french-base-after-bomb-threat-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/676678\/","title":{"rendered":"Aer Lingus pilot under investigation for refusing to land at French base after bomb threat \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

French<\/a> authorities have begun an investigation after an Aer Lingus<\/a> pilot allegedly refused to land at a military airfield when a hoax bomb threat was made against his aircraft.<\/p>\n

The Evreux prosecutor\u2019s office said it had opened an investigation after the Aer Lingus aircraft \u201callegedly refused\u201d to land at the military base, \u201cpreferring a civilian airport\u201d.<\/p>\n

The French military dispatched two fighter jets to escort the aircraft, which subsequently landed at an air force base in Normandy. No explosives were found on the aircraft.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Thursday night, Aer Lingus said its pilots \u201cfully co-operated with the French authorities regarding this matter, and the engagement of the pilots with the authorities has now concluded\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked if the aircraft had initially declined to divert as instructed, Aer Lingus said it had no further comment.<\/p>\n

On Friday it added: \u201cThe captain and crew on Aer Lingus flight EI402 acted impeccably and were thoroughly professional throughout yesterday\u2019s security issue. Safety and the care of our passengers is Aer Lingus\u2019 top priority and this was upheld professionally by the captain and crew of the aircraft throughout in what were very challenging circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inquiries across Europe are continuing after almost 30 flights, including Aer Lingus and Ryanair<\/a> aircraft, were disrupted by hoax bomb threats on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee<\/a> said the events, which come a week before more than 50 European leaders gather in Dublin for major summits, were \u201cextremely concerning\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said garda\u00ed<\/a> and security forces were working with counterparts in Europe to ensure the safety of those travelling.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that needs to be done and should be done will be done to ensure their security and safety throughout this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Irish passenger describes \u2018terrifying\u2019 incident as bomb threats affect almost 30 flightsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

A senior Government<\/a> source with knowledge of the response said the assumption was that the bomb hoaxes were co-ordinated and that they were most likely the work of agents aligned with Russia<\/a> or Iran<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a pattern of the likes of Russia disrupting Europe and other countries,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

McEntee said it was \u201cnot clear\u201d where the hoaxes had come from. \u201cMy understanding is some came through emails, but there are different sources,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is work under way to see if these are connected but that\u2019s not clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Minister for Transport Darragh O\u2019Brien<\/a> said investigations were \u201cin the hands of the appropriate aviation, policing and security bodies in the relevant jurisdictions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Almost 30 flights across Europe were affected by the threats on Thursday, with one Irish passenger describing the incident as \u201cterrifying\u201d. The threats came after similar incidents caused disruption earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

Two Ryanair flights, one from Dublin<\/a> to Prague and one from London Stansted to Cork<\/a>, were among those affected. The flight bound for Cork was delayed by 90 minutes after Cork Airport received an anonymous phone threat.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Cyberattacks: \u2018I could see all my files on my computer going one by one\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The Aer Lingus flight was en route from Dublin to Rome when it was diverted in northern France.<\/p>\n

Dubliner Katie McAteer, who was aboard the flight, said the flight was about an hour into its journey when passengers were told by the pilot there was a \u201cproblem with plane\u201d and that it had been directed to land at the airbase.<\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9 Radio\u2019s News at One, she recalled seeing a \u201cfighter pilot flying right beside the plane\u201d, describing the sight as \u201cscary\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think none of us really knew what was going on at that point,\u201d she said, though the pilot subsequently informed passengers he believed the threat was not credible, which was \u201crelieving\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut yeah, it was terrifying,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Overall, flights between Italy, Ireland, Britain, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Finland, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, France, Greece, Serbia and Czechia were affected, had to make emergency landings or were diverted.<\/p>\n

The bomb threats on Thursday affected flights by Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Wizz Air, Finnair, EasyJet, Aegean Airlines, Iberia, Sky Express, Air Serbia and LOT. All flights landed safely, with searches of the aircraft finding nothing suspicious.<\/p>\n

Ryanair was also contacted for comment on the disruptions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"French authorities have begun an investigation after an Aer Lingus pilot allegedly refused to land at a military…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[601,1814,42,1556,43,1899,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-676678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-aer-lingus","tag-france","tag-headlines","tag-helen-mcentee","tag-news","tag-ryanair","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}