Passengers on Avinor’s Gardermoen to Alta flight were told to leave their hand luggage as they were let off the aircraft 10 people at a time. All flights into Alta airport have been blocked, according to Kirstian Loksa of Avinor, the state run airline. Specialist police staff, including dogs, are searching the aircraft to check there are no explosives.
The flight had departed Gardermoen just before 10am local time and just half an hour later police were informed of a bomb threat.
The plane landed safely just before 12pm.
A passenger told local media VG they were allowing people off the plane just after 1pm.
Kevin Gonaseelan said: “They have started to let passengers out ten and ten at a time, and that we can bring our jackets with us.”
Police have cordoned off the plane and put it in a designated ‘safe zone’.
Police have arrested a passenger who refused to evacuate from the plane, but they do not believe is related to the bomb incident.
Operational director Stein Kristian Hansen said: “The police are very serious about the incident. A case has been established and the police have started work on finding out who is behind the threat.”
Alta is a popular destination for tourists wanting to see the Northern Lights.
One passenger told VG: “We were told that we could not go out. A little later we were told that the plane should be emptied and that all passengers should be examined.”
One passenger said: “Both the passengers and the cabin crew have been quiet. When we landed and read in online newspapers that the person who had made the threat claimed he was on the plane, some began to wonder if this was safe, since we had to sit in the plane for over an hour.
“But we thought at the same time that we would have been evacuated faster if there was a precarious danger, so there was no hint of panic.”
Alta is a town known for its views of the Northern Lights on Norway’s northern coast, at the head of Alta Fjord.