A Vueling flight from Athens (Greece) to Barcelona was grounded today, in what turned out to be a false bomb alert.

Flight VY2901 was already moving in preparation for takeoff. At around 15:10 a hand written note was discovered, claiming that an explosive device was on board the plane.

The pilot was informed and immediately aborted the take off. Security staff were advised and the aircraft moved to a “remote” area at the Greek airport.

Passengers and crew were evacuated from the aircraft, which was carrying 148 passengers at the time, who were then transported by bus to the terminal building. An extensive search by explosive experts was carried out, but no bomb was found, according to airport authorities.

Passengers were moved to a local hotel, whilst the airline made arrangements to transport the passengers from Athens at around 23:00. They are expected to arrive in Barcelona at around 02:00 on Friday morning, around 8 hours later than scheduled.