Turkish Airlines flight makes emergency landing in Barcelona after in-flight alert

A Turkish Airlines flight made an emergency landing at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport on Thursday after a passenger created an in-flight wireless network whose name contained a bomb threat, a spokesperson for the airline said.

As flight TK1853 from Istanbul was approaching its destination in Barcelona, “it was detected that a passenger established an in-flight internet access point and set the network name to include a bomb threat,” Yahya Üstün said.

As a result, the aircraft made an emergency landing, escorted by two fighter jets, one Spanish and one French.

Image of the Turkish Airlines flight path

The Airbus A321, carrying 148 passengers and seven crew, was directed to a designated area for inspection after landing at around 11 am.

The operation involved personnel from the Civil Guard, National Police and the Catalonia regional police and fire service.

Sources at the Interior Ministry later indicated that the presence of explosive material on board had been ruled out, although the investigation remains open.

Spain’s Civil Guard police force said that operations at the airport were continuing normally.