Copa airliner bound for Florida returns to Panama after a bomb threat

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama’s civil aviation authority says a Copa airline flight bound for Tampa, Florida, has returned to Panama City’s international airport following a bomb threat. The Boeing 737-800 landed Friday at Tocumen International Airport at around 11 a.m. local time and moved to an isolated stretch of the tarmac, where 144 passengers were taken off the plane, Panama’s Civil Aeronautics Authority said on the social media platform X. An anti-explosives team began inspecting the aircraft.