Bomb threat airliner diverted to Cyprus

A Lufthansa airliner en route to Tel Aviv was rerouted to Cyprus on today after the airline received a bomb threat.

The airliner was escorted by Israeli warplanes on its way to the Mediterranean island.

The threat was received by Lufthansa’s Frankfurt office, said Mickey Gurdus, who monitors air controller traffic for Israel Radio.

Gurdus broadcast part of the Lufthansa pilot’s conversation with the control at Ben Gurion International Airport. In the conversation, the pilot said he was heading to Larnaca in Cyprus, where the aircraft was to be searched.

There has been a spate of hoax bomb threat calls across Europe that have forced airliners to divert to the nearest airport.

A Greek airliner resumed its flight to London today after spending the night on Corfu after being diverted there following a bomb threat.

The Olympic Airlines Airbus, carrying 205 passengers and seven crew members, took off from Corfu airport about nine hours after it landed there from Athens.

Flight OA265, was evacuated and searched following an anonymous telephone call to Olympic’s headquarters.

It was third such incident involving the Greek airline in just over a week. The other two involved an Olympic Airlines plane flying to New York on September 29 that landed in Shannon, Ireland, and another on September 26 that landed in London.