The Guardia Civil arrested an Italian at Ibiza airport on Thursday for a false bomb threat. The detainee, who was apparently intoxicated according to the Guardia Civil, claimed that he was carrying an explosive device shortly before his flight, Ryanair FR8335, took off for Bergamo.
The relevant protocol was activated and the aircraft was stopped on the runway. The Guardia Civil were deployed to the scene and members of the Special Explosives Disposal Group (GEDEX) inspected the plane and ruled out the presence of any bomb on the aircraft.
The bomb hoax led to the all activity at Ibiza airport being brought to a halt and no flights took off or landed from 15:45 fort over an hour due to this security incident. According to what the Spanish airport authority AENA confirmed to Periódico de Ibiza y Formentera, a total of three flights were diverted to Palma airport.
They were flights from Bologna, London and Bilbao which, due to the incident, were unable to land in Ibiza at the scheduled time. The security protocol was deactivated at 16:45 hours as a result of the bomb scare, flights were delayed all afternoon.
Ryanair has apologised for “any inconvenience” caused by the false bomb threat that affected flight FR8335 from Ibiza to Milan Bergamo on Thursday afternoon, which forced the suspension of air traffic at Ibiza airport for 45 minutes. In a statement, the airline today clarified that the crew was notified of a false security threat on board “prior to departure” of the plane and that in accordance with standard security procedures, passengers disembarked and local authorities carried out a “routine security check” before authorising the plane’s return to service. The flight departed for Milan Bergamo in the evening after “a brief but unavoidable delay”, the airline added.
Earlier this week, Europe’s largest low cost airline Ryanair explained that Tuesday’s emergency on an early morning flight from Dublin to Palma was forced to divert to Bordeaux after a passenger fell ill. The airline has told the Bulletin: “This flight from Dublin to Palma de Mallorca (18 Jun) diverted to Bordeaux when a passenger became ill on board. Medics met the aircraft on arrival at Bordeaux Airport and the passenger was offloaded before this flight continued to Palma de Mallorca following a short delay.”