NewsAnonymous bomb threat, air france, false alarm, cancelled flight, Air France flight 83
Dec 10, 2015 04:50 AM EST
The anonymous bomb threat that diverted the Paris-bound Air France flight 83 to Montreal was a false alarm, according to carrier.
In a report by CNBC, Flight AF83 SFO-CDG was a Boeing 777 that has some 200 passengers. AI France KLM tweeted "After a full security search, false alert confirmed by local authorities following an anonymous threat December 8th." The airline didn't elaborate the nature of the threat.
USA Today reported that the aircraft left San Francisco at 6 p.m. ET Monday carrying 246 people, 15 of which were part of the crew. It landed in Montreal, Canada midnight after the pilot decided to as a precautionary measure. The passengers arrived in Paris seven hours later than the original time of arrival.
Police and firefighters arrived at the Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport when the plane landed Monday, following the safety standard procedure. Passengers were made to disembark the plane for a protocol security check.
"Everyone is pretty relaxed," passenger Gilles Raymond from San Francisco told the Associated Press. "There was no panic, no stress. Everyone is waiting in their seats. Some people are sleeping, and some are checking their phones or eating ice cream that the flight attendants gave them."
CBC News wrote that this is not the only plane that was diverted after the November 13 Paris terror attack that killed 130 people. Another France-bound flight was diverted November 17 to Halifax and Salt Lake City, Utah, due to threats from an anonymous sender. It was determined later on that the threats were bogus.
On that same day, two more Paris-bound Air France flights were diverted. On November 18, bomb threat hoaxes diverted flights from Los Angeles to Salt Laek City and a Washington flight was diverted to Halifax.
According to Air France, an investigation will be done to determine where the threat came from. Spokeswoman Ulli Gendrot said all the passengers were safe, but wouldn't elaborate any further on the threat.