Lisbon, July 30, 2025 (Lusa) - The perpetrator of the false bomb alert on an Azores Airlines flight that prompted an emergency landing in Lisbon on Saturday “intended to play a prank on his fellow passenger,” according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP).

“The facts strongly indicate that, in a rash act, the defendant intended to play a prank on his fellow passenger by reporting the presence of a bomb on board the aircraft. However, the pilot treated the false alarm as serious, so the plane diverted its route and made an emergency landing at Lisbon airport,” said a statement released on Tuesday on the website of the Lisbon District Attorney’s Office.

The man, a Spanish national, boarded the SATA Azores Airlines plane on Saturday “together with a friend” at Ponta Delgada airport on the Azorean island of São Miguel, bound for Spain.

Authorities took him for initial questioning on Monday, charged him with a crime against air transport safety, and, as the Judicial Police had previously indicated, banned him from entering national airports.

The Lisbon Department of Investigation and Penal Action leads the investigation, according to the statement from the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

On Saturday, SATA Azores Airlines revealed that the bomb threat that led to the diversion of flight S4 504, en route from Ponta Delgada to Bilbao (Spain), “was unfounded after the competent authorities conducted a thorough inspection of the aircraft and luggage.”

According to the company, “after the competent authorities had completed their investigations”, the authorities authorised the aircraft to resume operations, and the airline rescheduled the Lisbon-Bilbao flight for that evening, with 111 passengers on board.

The airline indicated at the time that authorities had detained two passengers, but a source from the Judicial Police later said that authorities had detained one person for causing the situation.

ROC/ADB // ADB.

Lusa