Over 300 holidaymakers travelling on an Aer Lingus flight from Malaga to Dublin suffered a two-hour delay yesterday after a hoax bomb threat was made to Spanish police.
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus said the passengers had boarded the aircraft in advance of its planned take-off at 1pm yesterday when local police received a call claiming there was a bomb on board.
The passengers were taken off the Airbus A 330 and the aircraft was towed to a secure area, where a thorough search was conducted.
The bomb threat was then declared a hoax and the passengers permitted to reboard.
The flight took off shortly after 3pm yesterday and landed safely in Dublin.
In a separate incident, it has emerged a male Irish passenger caused a disturbance on an Etihad Airways flight from Dublin to Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, forcing the pilot to divert the aircraft to Istanbul on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the airline said the passenger was met by local police and appeared before the Turkish authorities charged with drunkenness.
He was due to be deported back to Ireland yesterday.
"Due to the disruptive behaviour of the passenger in question, the captain requested that the local police meet the aircraft upon arrival," the spokesman said.
"The safety of our guests and crew is Etihad's number one priority and the airline will continue to uphold a zero tolerance policy towards disruptive passengers."