Ongoing Bomb threat hits KLM flight to Tel Aviv

A KLM flight to Tel Aviv received a bomb threat on Thursday after leaving Schiphol. The Romanian security service reported the threat, and KLM confirmed it. The plane left Amsterdam at 16.40, and the threat came in at 19.30, a KLM spokesperson said. The aircraft then made its scheduled stopover in Bucharest, where passengers and crew left the plane.

The aircraft is being examined. KLM says it will then be decided whether the flight can continue.

Several European flights have faced bomb threats this week. No explosives were found, but air traffic was disrupted. On Tuesday in Bulgaria, an email warned of an explosive on a plane from Bergamo to Sofia and of a second threat against a flight from Dublin to Sofia. At Sofia airport both aircraft, their passengers, crew and baggage were inspected, with four police dogs used on the last plane. Nothing was found.

The Dutch National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV) said the number of bomb threats in such a short time is striking and is something it is watching closely. Such threats unfortunately cannot be prevented, it said, and airlines have special procedures for handling them.

Air France-KLM chief executive Benjamin Smith, speaking earlier on Thursday at the results presentation, said he had never seen anything like it. The threats seem to be coordinated, which is new, he said, and the group is well prepared to handle them.

Airlines take all threats seriously, said IATA, the international airline body. It called on European authorities to trace the origin of this week's false threats.

At least 27 passenger flights in Europe were disrupted by false bomb threats on Thursday, including flights in France, Italy, Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Romania and Belgium. Nothing was found anywhere. A Wizz Air flight from Milan to Bucharest and an Air Serbia flight from Belgrade to Bucharest were among those targeted; the Air Serbia plane landed safely at its destination.

Czech police said the threats there were judged to be of little credibility, but that all necessary security measures were being taken. On Monday and Tuesday, around ten flights received bomb threats, and Warsaw-Modlin airport temporarily closed when a plane landed there after one.