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BALPA has explained what happens on a plane during a bomb threat after suspected hoax alerts diverted Ryanair, Aer Lingus and Finnair flights across Europe on Thursday

The British Airlines Pilots’ Association has set out precisely what takes place on board an aircraft when a bomb threat is received. It follows further threats made against planes on Thursday. Thursday’s incidents marked the second wave this week, after several aircraft, including some departing from the UK and Ireland, were subjected to hoax security alerts earlier this week.

Thursday’s events led to numerous flights being diverted across Europe, including an Aer Lingus service from Dublin to Rome being forced to land in northern France and a Ryanair flight from London being diverted.

Joji Waites, BALPA director of flight safety, policy and regulation, said: “Aviation has historically been a target for bomb threats, but the industry has well-proven mechanisms for dealing with such threats.

“When a threat to an aircraft has been notified to the airline, the threat is passed to a team of assessors. These assessors use standard processes to grade the threat and decide whether the threat is Red (credible), Amber (partially credible) or Green (not credible). Amber is not considered an appropriate assessment if the plane is airborne.

“If the threat is assessed as not credible staff on the plane will not be informed of it. However, when a threat is assessed as credible (red or amber) the flight crew will be informed immediately and they will carry out company procedures for a credible bomb threat.

“From the moment the flight crew is notified of a credible bomb threat, commander of the aircraft – the captain – is in command and will make all the decisions, guided by the appropriate checklist, for the safety of their aircraft. Usually, if a plane is still on the tarmac that will mean an evacuation and if it is in the air, the priority will be to land the plane as soon and as safely as possible.

“Pilots are highly trained and skilled professionals. Their expertise is invaluable in ensuring passenger safety and keeping aviation one of the safest forms of transport there is.”

No fewer than eight flights were confirmed to have received bomb threats on Thursday, with services affected from Copenhagen, Helsinki, Madrid, Milan and Warsaw. Among those targeted was a Ryanair flight departing from London Stansted Airport bound for the Bulgarian capital Sofia, which was diverted and touched down safely in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, according to the Associated Press. The majority of affected aircraft were redirected to alternative airports for emergency landings, while others reached their intended destinations without incident.

With regard to the Dublin to Rome Aer Lingus flight, a statement from the French prime minister’s office confirmed that the A320 aircraft was diverted to the Evreux air base, where it landed safely.

“The 151 passengers and six crew members were brought to safety and the bomb disposal teams intervened,” the statement added. Aer Lingus said: “Aer Lingus flight EI402 from Dublin to Rome diverted to Normandy this morning as a security precaution. The flight landed safely and Aer Lingus will work to reaccommodate customers to their final destination as soon as possible.”

Finnish carrier Finnair confirmed that two of its flights — one departing Helsinki bound for Rome and another heading from Helsinki to Vienna — had also received “unfounded or hoax” bomb threats on Thursday. Both aircraft touched down at their intended destinations and passengers disembarked without incident, the airline stated.

In Rome, the Finnair aircraft was thoroughly inspected with nothing suspicious discovered, while checks on the plane in Vienna were still ongoing. The flight to Rome had 144 passengers and seven crew members on board, while the Vienna-bound service carried 177 passengers and six crew, the airline confirmed.

WizzAir revealed that two of its flights had also been subjected to bomb threats on Thursday — one travelling from Milan to Bucharest, which landed safely at its destination, and another due to fly from Milan to Warsaw, which was diverted and touched down safely in Vienna.

The airline said it was “co-operating fully with the relevant authorities” and taking “all necessary steps to ensure the safety of everyone onboard”.

It added: “The safety and security of our passengers and crew remain our highest priority.”

Physicians accuse Israeli Medical Association of remaining silent as Palestinian healthcare is systematically destroyed.

Hundreds of doctors have gathered outside the World Medical Association (WMA) summit in the Netherlands, calling for the suspension of the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) from the grouping of physicians.

On Saturday, 81 healthcare workers removed their scrubs and hung them in a line facing the WMA assembly in Rotterdam, each bearing the name of a Palestinian healthcare worker currently held in illegal Israeli detention.

It was part of a protest against the continued membership of the Israeli association in the WMA, “despite them breaching almost every ethical principle in the WMA’s Code of Medical Ethics”, the IMA Out! coalition that organised the demonstration said in a statement.

“These scrubs should not be empty. Our colleagues belong with their patients, not in Israeli prisons. Today, we literally placed their names at the WMA’s doorstep,” said Mejrem Ahmetaj, a general practitioner and member of IMA Out!.

Since October 2023, Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 1,700 Palestinian healthcare workers and destroyed nearly all the hospitals and healthcare facilities in the enclave.

The campaign accused the Israeli medical association of remaining silent as Palestinian healthcare has been systematically destroyed.

“The IMA is not a bystander. It defends these attacks and blocks international condemnation while Palestinian healthcare is being destroyed. That is not medical neutrality. That is complicity,” added Ahmetaj.

At a meeting of international doctors, medical leaders and human rights activists during the WMA summit on Thursday, the destruction of Palestinian healthcare and the responsibility of the international medical community were discussed, the campaign said.

“Our Palestinian colleagues are being killed and imprisoned, where they are starved and tortured. Their hospitals have been destroyed and patients driven out or murdered. The IMA has said and done nothing about these war crimes against health workers, patients and hospitals,” said a statement by Jonathan Fluxman on behalf of IMA OUT!.

“Thirty years of WMA dialogue with the IMA has done nothing but give the IMA a sense of impunity … It is time for national medical associations and the WMA to speak out and take action. Break your ties with the IMA and suspend the IMA from the WMA now,” he added.

The IMA OUT! campaign said it delivered a petition calling for the IMA’s suspension, signed by more than 6,500 health workers from around the world.

They also demanded accountability for the complicity of Israeli doctors in the starvation, torture and medical neglect of Palestinian prisoners.

Among those held by Israel is Dr Hussam Abu Safia, head of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, whose unlawful detention has prompted an international outcry.

He was briefly held at the notorious Sde Teiman detention camp and has been subject to torture and medical neglect. Doctors protesting in Rotterdam held up placards demanding his release.

Abu Safia’s son Elyas, addressing a meeting organised by the campaign, said, “My father and all Palestinian detainees must be treated in accordance with medical ethics, and doctors must abide by the Hippocratic oath they have taken. Care cannot be given based on whose life is deemed worthy.”