Panic spread through a Turkish Airlines flight after a passenger noticed a suspicious network name on their device. The aircraft was grounded and evacuated while security teams conducted a thorough sweep of the cabin. What began as a routine journey quickly turned into a high-stakes investigation sparked by a simple Wi-Fi hotspot label.
Airline staff confirmed that a Turkish Airlines journey was interrupted on Thursday morning by an emergency touchdown in Spain. The diversion was triggered by a passenger’s hoax, in which they used a Wi-Fi hotspot name to claim there was a ‘bomb threat’ among the travellers.
As Flight 1853 travelled from Istanbul and neared its journey’s end at Barcelona-El Prat Airport, the crew initiated emergency measures. According to Euronews, the Airbus A321—holding 148 travellers and seven staff—was ushered to a secure spot for a search immediately after touching down.
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The Source of the Scare
In a statement on X, Yahya Üstün of Turkish Airlines revealed that a passenger had launched a mobile Wi-Fi link during the journey. The communications executive shared that the network was given a label which implied a ‘bomb threat’ existed.
TK1853 sefer sayılı İstanbul–Barselona uçuşumuzda yaşanan durumun ardından, ilgili ülkenin yetkili otoriteleri tarafından gerekli güvenlik aramaları gerçekleştirilmiş, herhangi bir olumsuzluğa rastlanmamıştır.
Söz konusu yolcunun tespiti ve hukuki sürecin yürütülmesi amacıyla…
— Yahya ÜSTÜN (@yhyustun) January 15, 2026
According to Simpleflying, the aircraft was flying across the Mediterranean when a member of staff spotted a frightening Wi-Fi network title. The label supposedly claimed, ‘I have a bomb, everyone will die.’
Üstün confirmed that security measures were implemented as soon as the warning was raised. During this emergency response, Euronews stated that a pair of fighter jets from Spain and France flew alongside the plane.
Military Escort and Ground Search
Once the plane touched down safely, airline staff said that emergency teams searched the cabin and sought out the traveller behind the hostile Wi-Fi network title. Euronews reported that the effort drew in several Spanish agencies, including the Civil Guard, National Police, and local Catalan police and fire departments.
Scenes from the ground captured a canine unit inspecting travellers’ suitcases out on the tarmac. Government officials later stated that the intensive search ended with ‘no irregularities were found.’
The Civil Guard has ruled out that the bomb threat on the Turkish Airlines plane that landed this morning at El Prat airport in Barcelona was real, pending final checks on the aircraft and its passengers.
The passengers of the aircraft, which came from Turkey, disembarked on… pic.twitter.com/CSvoKiVRRS
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) January 15, 2026
‘Our aircraft’s return flight will be carried out after the completion of passenger boarding,’ Üstün said. According to Reuters, activities at Barcelona-El Prat Airport returned to normal after the security scare concluded.
A Worldwide Rise in False Alarms
The aviation industry has seen a quick surge in reported bomb scares across the globe. Data provided by the US Bomb Data Center (USBDC) highlights a 26% increase in 2023, while in India, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) recorded nearly 1,000 threats targeting planes in 2024. These types of major events continued to occur throughout 2025.
In February, for example, travellers on a journey from Austin to Charlotte were told to leave the aircraft when a passenger spotted a network called ‘There is a bomb on the flight’. Later, in April, an Allegiant Air jet set for Cincinnati was cleared at Tampa after staff discovered a note on a toilet door containing a ‘very explicit’ threat.
The High Price of Hoaxes
Even though these alarms were eventually found to be false, security teams have to act on every report. Such incidents result in massive costs for the aviation industry and significant delays and inconvenience for the public.
Making a fraudulent bomb claim on a flight carries heavy legal punishments. A case highlighted by Simple Flying involved a passenger on a 2023 Alaska Airlines trip from Atlanta to Seattle who caused the plane to change course. This person has now received a federal jail term of 22 months and a three-year supervised release period, alongside a requirement to pay $80,000 to both the airline and Spokane International Airport.
Originally published on IBTimes UK
