Bomb threat grounds Ryanair flight from Dublin to Poland

Federal police inspect a Ryanair aircraft after the unscheduled landing of the plane at the Berlin International Airport. Picture: Christophe Gateau/dpa via AP

A Ryanair flight from Dublin to Krakow had to make an emergency landing in Germany following a potential security threat on board.

The plane arrived in Berlin at around 7pm Irish time last night. According to German paper Bild, there was a bomb threat on board the plane.

German federal police said early on Monday morning that their deployment was finished, but declined to give details of what led to it, news agency dpa reported.

A search of the plane found nothing untoward.

Ryanair confirmed the grounding in a statement to the Irish Examiner. 

"The crew on a Ryanair flight from Dublin to Krakow FR1901 yesterday were notified by German ATC of a potential security threat on board. The captain followed procedures and diverted to the nearest airport, Berlin.

"The aircraft landed safely and passengers were offloaded to facilitate extensive security checks of passengers and all baggage. 

“Once cleared by German authorities, passengers travelled onwards to Krakow on a spare Ryanair aircraft after a delay on the ground of approx. 8 hrs.”

"Return passengers from Krakow to Dublin travelled on a spare aircraft, with a delay of less than 15 mins."

“The Ryanair plane that made an emergency landing reported an air emergency and was therefore immediately given a landing permit at BER,” airport spokesman Jan-Peter Haack told Bild on Sunday evening.

“It is now in a parking position. The federal police and fire brigade are there.” 

Ryanair apologised to affected passengers for the delay, saying it was "outside the airline’s control.”

Last year, another Dublin-Krakow flight was diverted due to a similar threat.

A flight from Krakow in Poland to Dublin was last night forced to make an emergency landing in London after a bomb threat was found on board.

Passengers had to temporarily disembark the flight from Krakow to Dublin after a note was found in one of the plane’s toilets claiming there were explosives on board the aircraft.