The captain and first officer of an Aer Lingus flight that was diverted to a French military airfield on Thursday after a bomb threat have been questioned by French authorities and permitted to depart the country, according to The Irish Times.
The flight, EI402, had left Dublin that morning for Rome when the threat forced it to land at the Évreux base in Normandy. Two French fighter jets were sent up to accompany the aircraft to the ground.
Rémi Coutin, the public prosecutor in Évreux, told The Irish Times that investigators interviewed both men on Thursday and that they were later allowed to leave French territory. He said the inquiry is not finished.
Why it matters
The case has drawn attention not only because of the hoax itself but because of how the crew responded to it. According to the prosecutor's office, the investigation was opened after authorities were told the pilot had at first declined to follow the French order to land at Évreux, prompting the dispatch of the fighter jets.
Prosecutors say they are trying to establish whether the landing instruction was in fact refused and whether any such conduct could amount to a criminal offence or offences. No finding has been made, and the two crew members have not been accused of anything.
The episode comes amid a wave of similar threats across Europe. Close to 30 flights were affected on Thursday, and officials in several countries reported further alerts on Friday.
Crew conduct under scrutiny as hoaxes spread
The Aer Lingus captain is an Irish citizen and the first officer holds a British passport, the Évreux prosecutor said.
Aer Lingus defended its crew in a statement on Friday, saying the captain and crew of EI402 behaved impeccably and acted with full professionalism during the security incident. The airline said the safety and wellbeing of passengers is its highest priority and that this was maintained throughout what it described as very difficult circumstances.
At Évreux, passengers left the aircraft and their luggage was checked. Nothing explosive was recovered.
A copy of the threat message, which was addressed to Italian airports and published by the news agency Ansa, said a device had been planted on the Dublin flight and on a separate service from Helsinki, describing the intended action as an attack on what it called the "feminist regime".
The disruption extended well beyond France. Romania's Tarom said one of its aircraft flying from Prague to Bucharest received a threat; the plane completed its journey and airport officials said the alert was false. Portuguese police said they were told of a threat against a Ryanair service from Lisbon to Rome and searched the aircraft after it landed in Lisbon, with passengers and bags for the Rome leg screened again before boarding. In Venice, police said a WizzAir flight from Prague to Rome was sent to the Italian city after an alert; travellers were taken off the plane and checks were carried out, with no suspicious items found so far.
Police in Copenhagen said they attended the airport for a second day running as a precaution over threats to air traffic, adding that they judged there had been no danger to passengers or anyone else and that operations were continuing normally. Czech police said they were again handling threats involving arriving and departing aircraft and had taken measures with Prague's Václav Havel Airport that had only a slight effect on normal business.
French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu's office said four more threats were made on Friday against aircraft flying over French airspace.
No suspicious objects were found in any of the incidents and no one was hurt. The volume of alerts is nonetheless notable, since false bomb threats, while not rare, seldom arrive in such numbers over such a short window. They have landed at a moment when Europe is already dealing with other disruptions, among them cyber incidents affecting supermarket refrigeration systems and unauthorised drone flights.
Helen McEntee, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, called the events extremely concerning. They fall a week before more than 50 European leaders are due in Dublin for a series of major summits.
What to watch
French prosecutors have given no timeline for concluding their inquiry into the Évreux diversion, and European police forces are continuing to respond to fresh alerts.
