Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 15, 2026
1 min readLast updated: January 19, 2026
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A Turkish Airlines flight made an emergency landing in Barcelona due to a bomb hoax. No explosives were found, and an investigation is underway.
MADRID, Jan 15 (Reuters) - A false bomb threat delivered via an onboard mobile connection caused a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to make an emergency landing at Barcelona's El Prat Airport on Thursday, Spanish police and the airline said.
A Turkish Airlines spokesperson said earlier that the plane had landed after crew detected that a passenger had created an in-flight internet hotspot which was named to include a bomb threat as the aircraft approached Barcelona.
Spain's Guardia Civil police force said in a statement that following a thorough inspection of the aircraft after its passengers had disembarked, the alert had been deactivated and no explosives had been found. Spanish airport operator AENA said El Prat was operating normally.
Police have launched an investigation to determine who was behind the hoax, the statement added.
Turkey's flag carrier has faced previous incidents of hoax threats, usually made via written messages, that led to emergency landings over the years.
(Reporting by David Latona and Jesus Calero in Madrid and Ceyda Caglayan in Istanbul, editing by Andrei Khalip and Susan Fenton)
An emergency landing is a situation where an aircraft lands unexpectedly due to a critical issue, such as a threat or technical failure, to ensure the safety of passengers and crew.
An investigation in aviation refers to the process of examining incidents or accidents involving aircraft to determine causes and prevent future occurrences, often conducted by aviation authorities.
A threat in aviation can refer to any situation or action that poses a risk to the safety of an aircraft, its passengers, or crew, including security threats or technical malfunctions.
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