An Airbus A320 belonging to Aeroflot was preparing to take off at around 1pm on October 13th when a man told officials in the airport there was a bomb on board.
According to newspaper Le Matin, the man was a Swiss resident of Indian nationality who lived in the canton of Vaud.
The paper said he made the false bomb claim because he was late for his flight from Geneva to Moscow and wanted to delay the plane so he could board.
Indeed he did delay it – the Aeroflot service was recalled to the airport and all 115 passengers evacuated before bomb disposal officers examined the plane for explosives.
Questioned by police, the man then said he made it all up for a joke.
At a hearing on Friday the public prosecutor handed him a six months prison sentence for “threats alarming the public”, reported 20 Minutes.
It’s the second time this year that Geneva airport has been the victim of a hoaxer.
A Frenchwoman was handed a jail term and a bill for 90,000 francs from police after she falsely claimed there was a woman carrying a bomb at the airport in July.
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