Last night, a Bucharest-bound Boeing 737 operated by Romanian flag carrier TAROM had to divert to Istanbul. The aircraft had been flying from Tel Aviv back to Bucharest when a bomb threat prompted the plane to land before reaching its planned destination. The incident has caused significant delays for the passengers.

Diversion to Istanbul

According to Romania Insider, the diverted service was TAROM flight RO154, which connects Israel's Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) with Bucharest Henri Coandă International (OTP). The latter serves as the primary operational base for TAROM, which competes with El Al, Ryanair, and Wizz Air on this route.

FlightRadar24.com shows that TAROM flight RO154 is an overnight affair, with its scheduled departure time from Tel Aviv being either 23:30 or 23:55. These departures have respective arrival times of 02:15 and 02:40, with last night's flight following the later schedule. However, it departed almost an hour late, at 00:49.

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However, the delay soon got considerably longer. As Romania Insider notes, the flight's crew were warned about the potential presence of a bomb onboard while cruising towards Bucharest, prompting them instead to divert, as pictured above, to Turkey's Istanbul Airport (IST). The aircraft touched down at 03:33 local time.

A false alarm

Upon arrival in Istanbul, the aircraft was parked and, given the severe and potentially dangerous nature of the threat in question, checked for explosives. Thankfully, no such bomb could be located onboard the aircraft. According to Digi24, TAROM offered the following comment regarding the situation:

"There were 88 passengers onboard. We regret the discomfort caused to our passengers and reiterate the fact that TAROM's priority is the safety and security of its passengers and crews."

Istanbul is more or less en route from Tel Aviv to Bucharest, and TAROM also serves the airport with regularly scheduled flights. As such, Romanian publications have noted that the national airline was able to secure assistance for the flight's passengers once on the ground, despite the incident occurring in the early hours.

Continuing onwards

Romania Insider reported additionally that the passengers were expected to continue their journey to Bucharest at around 11:30 local time. However, data from FlightRadar24.com showed at the time of writing that their original aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 registered as YR-BGL, was still on the ground in Istanbul.

According to data from ch-aviation.com, this 10-year-old jet has 160 seats across two classes. However, further research does show that another TAROM flight, namely RO262, was scheduled to leave Istanbul at 11:40 this morning.

This was operated by a 19.5-year-old, 116-seat Boeing 737-700 registered as YR-BGH, and it took to the skies, in reality, at 12:06 local time. That being said, given its low capacity, the chances of accommodating the diverted flight's passengers onboard may have been slim. As such, it will be interesting to see when the diverted Boeing 737-800 and its passengers end their unplanned Turkish stopover.

Sources: ch-aviation.com, Digi24, Flightradar24.com, Romania Insider

• 

  TAROM

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  RO/ROT

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Bucharest International Airport

  Year Founded:

  1954

  Alliance:

  SkyTeam

  CEO:

  Ursu Mihăiță

  Country:

  Romania

• 

  Istanbul Airport

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  IST/LTFM

  Country:

  Turkey

  CEO:

  Kadri Samsunlu

  Passenger Count :

  37,176,509 (2021)

  Runways :

  16L/34R - 3,750m (12,303ft) | 16R/34L - 3,750m (12,303ft) | 17L/35R - 4,100m (13,451ft) | 17R/35L - 4,100m (13,451ft) | 18/36 - 3,060m (10,039ft)