Operations at Belgium’s second largest airport were briefly suspended on Tuesday due to a hoax bomb threat on a Ryanair flight from Portugal, authorities said.
A “bomb threat” aboard an aircraft that landed at Charleroi airport was triggered shortly before 11:00 am (0900 GMT), according to the airport operator.
This led to a suspension of operations as police established a security perimeter around the aircraft and started combing the plane. Air traffic eventually resumed at 1:45 pm.
Belgian prosecutors later said they had been informed by Interpol “that the report received was in fact a hoax”.
“The perpetrator of the false alarm has been identified and arrested in England. The person arrested on board the plane has been released,” the Charleroi prosecutor office said.
Charleroi, south of Brussels, is a major European hub for low-cost airline Ryanair, which said the incident concerned one of its planes.
“Ryanair was informed of a security threat on flight FR6313 from Faro to Brussels Charleroi,” the company said.
The plane landed normally and those on board have now disembarked, the company added, apologising to “any passengers affected”.
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