France faced a wave of bomb threats that prompted the evacuation of major airports and disrupted flight operations. The reports originated from BFMTV, which cited police sources, detailing urgent precautions being taken at several key hubs across the country.
According to the broadcast, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation ordered take-off bans at all airports while authorities assessed potential threats. This sweeping directive affected a broad network of facilities and led to swift groundings of departing flights as security teams conducted searches and implemented lockdown procedures.
Unidentified callers claimed threats targeting multiple airports, including Lille, Toulouse, Nice, and Nantes, with Beauvais near Paris and Bron near Lyon also mentioned in the same communication. The alert noted that Lille airport had received a threatening email on the morning of October 18, triggering heightened vigilance and immediate response from local security services.
As autumn often brings heightened security concerns, France has regularly faced calls that test the resilience of public infrastructure. Earlier in October, iconic tourist sites such as the Louvre and Gare de Lyon were evacuated, and the Palace of Versailles suspended operations twice following suspicious phone notes. The current alert level follows a sequence of incidents that have tested the country’s counter-terrorism readiness, including a recent armed attack near an educational institution in Arras that elevated national threat perceptions.
In related developments, authorities detained two Belarusian nationals in connection with the incident involving a teacher in France, underscoring the cross-border dimensions sometimes involved in these events and the broader impact on national security policies and airport resilience planning.