KLM flight to Tel Aviv diverted to Bucharest after bomb threat, 27 European flights hit

A stopover that did not go as planned

A KLM flight from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv was the target of a bomb threat on 5 November, following an earlier notice from the Romanian security service. The aircraft had left Schiphol at 16:40 that afternoon, and KLM's spokesperson said the threat came in at 19:30. The plane then made its planned stop in Bucharest, where passengers and crew disembarked while the aircraft was examined. Sources differ on the flight number: AD and Trouw give KL461, while Gelderlander and Telegraaf give KL416. The results of the examination had not been made public at the time of reporting.

Flight status overnight

According to ANP, the aircraft took off from Bucharest at 01:30 on 6 November, bound for Tel Aviv. AD later reported that the flight could not continue to Tel Aviv because of a technical fault. Trouw, citing data from the Flight Tracker website, gave an expected arrival in Tel Aviv of around 05:00. No source in this cluster confirms the aircraft's final route.

A wider wave of threats

Reuters, as reported by several outlets, counted 27 passenger flights in Europe disrupted by false threats on 5 November. A Wizz Air flight from Milan to Bucharest had received a threat before the KLM flight was targeted. A flight from Belgrade to Bucharest operated by Air Serbia also received a threat, and it landed safely at its intended destination. AD reported that the Romanian intelligence service said two more aircraft had received threats, including the KLM flight, and that the pilots asked for their planes to be inspected for explosives. Telegraaf added that numerous other threats had reached flights earlier that day.

Authorities and the airline respond

The NCTV, the Dutch National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security, said it did not know where the threats came from. Its spokesperson said the number of threats so close together was notable.

“The number of bomb threats so close together is striking and has the special attention of the NCTV.”

The spokesperson added that such threats cannot be prevented and that airlines have special procedures for handling them. The NCTV said these reports must always be taken seriously.

Air France-KLM's response

Air France-KLM chief executive Benjamin Smith spoke about the threats earlier on 5 November, at the presentation of quarterly results, according to Trouw. He said he had not seen anything like it before, and the coordinated nature of the threats seemed new to him. Smith told reporters the group was well prepared to handle this kind of threat.

“Air France-KLM has not yet suffered any disruption from a bomb threat.”

Smith said he had considerable confidence that the threats would have no impact on the group's operations.