Abu Dhabi International Airport was closed for an hour early yesterday after a bomb scare on an Etihad Airways flight. Hundreds of people had their travel plans disrupted as incoming flights were diverted to Al Ain. In addition, two flights scheduled to leave the capital were cancelled. The closure followed a bomb threat on an Etihad Airways flight from Karachi, Pakistan. A statement from the airline revealed that a threatening note had been found in one of the aircraft's toilets.
Searches on board the Airbus A330, which landed in the capital at 7.45am, failed to locate any device, however. Passengers disembarked safely and without incident, said the airline statement. Police and airport authorities also interviewed passengers and crew. "The good news is that the note turned out to be a hoax," said an airline spokesman. However, the closure caused disruption. "During that hour, a number of flights were diverted and some cancelled."
Nine Etihad Airways flights scheduled to land in Abu Dhabi were diverted to Al Ain, where some stood on the tarmac for four hours, according to one passenger. Two flights bound for Kuwait and Doha were cancelled. In October last year another incident said to be a hoax forced an Etihad flight to Islamabad to make an unscheduled landing in Karachi. The decision was taken after a note warning of a bomb was found in the aircraft's toilet. In July 2007, a flight from Jakarta to Abu Dhabi was diverted to Colombo in Sri Lanka after cabin crew discovered a suspicious-looking bag on board. No bomb was found.
Meanwhile, an Emirates Airline flight attendant has been committed for trial in the UK on charges relating to a bomb hoax on a plane bound for London from Dubai. Matthew Carney, 23, from Melbourne, appeared in court on Thursday accused of communicating information known or believed to be false with the intention of inducing a false belief that an object liable to explode or ignite was present in the cargo of a plane.
He faces a second charge of endangering the safety of an aircraft. The discovery of a warning note in a toilet of the plane on March 22 prompted security experts to search the plane and London's Gatwick Airport was closed for 20 minutes. Mr Carney will appear in court again on May 22. @Email:vtodorova@thenational.ae