An FBI investigation’s underway into a hoax bomb alert on board a flight from Shannon Airport to the US.
It forced the emergency landing of a US Airways flight in Philadelphia yesterday .
All transatlantic services at Shannon Airport are operating as normal today.
Just after 2 o’clock local US time – US Airways flight 7-double 7 was forced to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia following an unspecified threat.
The Boeing 757-which had departed the Mid West Airport shortly after 11.30 Irish Time was nearing the end of its journey when the alarm was raised.
The aircraft landed without incident on Runway 9 with the emergency services including fire trucks and police on standby and was then taxied to a special isolated area that deals with emergency landings and possible bomb threats.
Passengers – who would have already undergone -Full US customs and border control checks at by US officials at Shannon Airport – were then re- screened by members of homeland security – while a sweep of the plane was also carried out ..
Other flights were temporarily put on hold at Philadelphia International Airport to allow for flight 777 to land and after about 45 minutes later- other planes were once again in the area .
Simultaneously a fleet of buses arrived at the runway to take the 177 passengers and crew on board the US Airways plane to the terminal building.. These passengers on board the flight said many didn’t fully realise the situation at the beginning.
Local news stations in the US say the bomb threat – was received from an unknown male and turned out to be unsubstantiated while a spokesperson for US Airways says the decision to take the aircraft to a remote location was done out of an "abundance of caution"
A spokesperson for Shannon Airport says they have no comment to make on the incident but its understood the airport is unlikely to form part of any investigation into the incident.
Meanwhile All transatlantic flights in and out of Clare’s International Airport are operating as normal today – with full Customs and Border Control Checks taking place including on the daily US Airways service to Philadelphia.
