Bomb threat: Two Air France flights diverted for security goal

The other, Air France Flight 65, from Los Angeles landed to an airport in Salt Lake City.

Flight 65 from Los Angeles and Flight 55 from Washington were “subject to anonymous threats received after their respective takeoff”, the airline said in a statement. Air France confirmed that a bomb threat caused the interruption of Flight 65 headed from Los Angeles to Paris.

An Air France Boeing 777 originally bound for Paris remains grounded in Halifax on Wednesday night, after it was diverted following anonymous threats.

Keith Rosso, another passenger on the flight, said flight staff abruptly took away dinner trays and said they were landing because of “unsafe flying conditions”.

The FBI said later Tuesday that no evidence has been found to suggest the threats were credible.

“I think it was really handled very well, you see all of these people up and around helping us out the best they could, ” Silver told the Canadian Press.

The incidents came as the Paris terrorist attacks on Friday night, which killed 129 people and wounded 400, put European countries on high alert.

“As a precautionary measure and to run all required security tests, Air France, applying the safety regulations in force, determined to request the touchdowns of both aircraft”, the airline said in its statement.

“Diversion of flights are the most draconian response to a bomb threat”, revealed Juliette Kayyem, CNN national security analyst.

Separately, all 262 passengers and crew aboard Flight 55 got off the aircraft safely, Halifax Airport said.

A bomb threat was called in from the ground, but FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer did not provide further details.

The Sun reported that a female passenger told the flight crew she saw suspicious activity, which turned out to be someone watching a news report on a smartphone, said Sgt. Jonathan Green, a spokesman for the authority’s police department, which patrols the airport.

“RCMP will be searching the Air France plane using police dogs trained in explosives”, RCMP Nova Scotia said in a tweet.

Mr K.W. Nieh, senior vice-president at Taiwan’s Eva Airways, said: “Our passengers are really concerned about the attacks in Paris”.