Bomb threat forces Aer Lingus Dublin-Rome flight to divert to a French military air base

A flight from Ireland to Italy has been diverted to a military air base in western France because of a bomb threat, the French prime minister's office says.

The flight landed safely at the base in Evreux in Normandy, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's office said on Thursday morning (evening AEDT).

All 151 passengers and six crew members are safe and military bomb defusal teams were examining the plane.

The prime minister's office said it was following the situation in real time. No other information was immediately released.

Flight tracking sites showed that the Aer Lingus Dublin-Rome flight was approaching Paris when it turned sharply off its trajectory and made several loops before heading toward Evreux.

Several flights across Europe received hoax bomb threats this week that prompted searches, diversions and, in one case, an escort by the Italian air force until landing, officials said.

The flights included Polish airline LOT, Scandinavian Airlines, Wizz Air and Ryanair. The hoax threats came a day after a plane headed for Bulgaria was diverted to Hungary after receiving a similar bomb threat while in the air. No one was injured.

Such threats aren't a new phenomenon but come at a time of increased geopolitical tensions and signs of "disruption", like attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems, drone incursions in Europe and mysterious triggers to alert apps — even as authorities have warned that hybrid threats abound.