Hoax bomb threat forces Ryanair flight to divert

Three Ryanair flights were involved in emergency diversions on Monday, one of which was caused by a bomb alert that resulted in a drunk passenger being arrested.

The 33-year-old man was detained after police boarded a Shannon-bound flight that made an emergency landing at Berlin Schönefeld airport in Germany. The passenger is reported to have made threats on the late-night service claiming several times he had a bomb.

Flight FR-3326, a scheduled Ryanair service from Krakow in Poland to Shannon Airport, was just north of Dresden when the crew diverted, requesting security services to be available on arrival at about 10.15pm Irish time.

#FR3326 is landing at Berlin Schonefeld Airport during the nightly curfew http://t.co/zIe7g42o35 pic.twitter.com/v3huMQRRks

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 9, 2015

Special Forces personnel attached to the Federal Police service carried out a detailed search of the Boeing 737-800 jet after all the passengers had disembarked and were taken to the terminal.

No bomb was found during the search, which lasted several hours. The flight was later cleared to depart and arrived in Shannon shortly before 5am yesterday, five hours behind schedule.

The man was questioned by German police and faces several criminal charges.

Ryanair spokesman Robin Kiely said: “The flight from Krakow to Shannon diverted to Berlin following a hoax security alert.

“Customers disembarked while the aircraft was inspected by police, who detained one individual, before the aircraft was cleared to depart for Shannon.”

Ryanair said the matter was in the hands of the German police.

Also on Monday, two Ryanair flights were forced to make unscheduled landings after passengers on board became ill.

A flight from Brussels to Tenerife was diverted to Nantes, France. A Dublin-bound flight diverted to Cologne Bonn Airport in Germany.