Heathrow Terminal Evacuated, Jumbo Jet Returns to London : Three Bomb Scare Incidents Disrupt Air Travel

An Air-India jumbo jet bound for New York with 250 people aboard returned to London on Friday after a bomb threat, and a terminal at Heathrow Airport was evacuated after officials spotted an unattended suitcase.

The incidents came hours after a British Airways L-1011, which was forced to make a 10-hour unscheduled stop in Rome because of a bomb threat, arrived at Heathrow, the airline said.

The bomb-scare incidents followed Wednesday’s crash of a Pan Am Boeing 747 into the Scottish village of Lockerbie.

At Heathrow, large crowds of Christmas holiday travelers waited for their flights Friday, seemingly undeterred by the crash of the jumbo jet.

There was no indication of any increase in security, which is considered to be on a continuous high level here, and there appeared to be no new security checks.

Air-India in New York received a bomb threat from an anonymous caller after one of the airline’s Boeing 747s left Heathrow for New York at 2:59 p.m., an airline spokesman said. The threat was passed to the captain, who decided to return to Heathrow, the spokesman said.

The 747 landed and taxied to an isolated area southwest of the terminals, the British Airports Authority said. Passengers were taken off, and the aircraft was searched. No bomb was reported found.

Earlier Friday, an unattended suitcase in a terminal at the airport prompted authorities to evacuate hundreds of Christmas travelers, airport officials said. A bomb squad found only clothing in the suitcase. Police said they were told a man had walked into the terminal, put down the suitcase and left.

In the British Airways incident, authorities closed Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport for 20 minutes Thursday while the Lockheed L-1011 made an emergency landing and its 242 passengers and 12 crew were removed.

No bomb was found. A caller to the airline’s London office had said that a bomb was on board, according to airline spokesman Michael Blunt. The flight had originated in New Delhi, had made a stopover in Kuwait and was flying to London when it was diverted.