An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome diverted to Evreux air base in northern France on Thursday morning after bomb threats linked to a wider run of alerts across Europe. Flight EI402 landed safely, and Aer Lingus said it would work to re-accommodate customers to their final destination as soon as possible.
Evreux air base diversion
Aer Lingus said EI402 had diverted to Normandy “as a security precaution.” The airline said, “The flight landed safely and Aer Lingus will work to re-accommodate customers to their final destination as soon as possible.” The aircraft was an Aer Lingus Airbus A320, and the emergency alert sent it off its Dublin-to-Rome route before it reached Italy.
Passengers on that flight were not the only ones affected on Thursday. Finnair said there was a bomb threat against one of its planes travelling from Helsinki to Rome, and that aircraft was escorted by air force jets before landing as scheduled. A Wizz Air flight travelling from Milan to Warsaw also issued an emergency alert before diverting to Vienna, Austria.
Tuesday searches across Europe
The Thursday alerts came just days after eight European flights were targeted by suspected bomb threats on Tuesday. Seven planes were searched after the threats were made, including two flights from the UK and two Ryanair flights that landed in Rome after anonymous tips. Police bomb disposal experts carried out standard security protocols, and no explosives were found on any of the planes after searches. The UK government described the incidents as “malicious hoax threats.”
One Tuesday flight travelled from Manchester to Murcia, Spain, and one from London Heathrow to Warsaw, Poland. Another Tuesday search involved one Ryanair flight leaving Dublin and one Ryanair flight leaving Lisbon. For passengers, the immediate issue is not just the diversion itself but whether the airline can move them onward quickly; Aer Lingus said it will do that as soon as possible.
Aer Lingus and Finnair routes
The pattern matters for travelers on routes linking Dublin, Rome, Helsinki, and Warsaw because the alerts hit scheduled commercial services in flight rather than at departure gates. The Wizz Air diversion added a complication: the plane turned to Vienna even though no bomb threat had been reported for that flight and the reason remained unclear, making it the odd case in a day of security-triggered rerouting.
The practical next step for affected passengers is the re-accommodation process already promised by Aer Lingus, while the wider open question is what linked the latest bomb threats across multiple European flights, if anything. Thursday’s flights show that the disruption is moving along ordinary commercial routes, not only through one airport or one country.
