A French woman has been sentenced to six months in prison after calling in a fake bomb threat at Geneva Airport in a ploy to get revenge on her husband’s mistress.

The woman had called customs on 26 July and told them there would be a passenger travelling with a bomb at the airport on 27 July – which was when the woman having an affair with her husband was flying out of the Swiss airport.

Security immediately responded to the threat, causing delays and long queues at the airport as passengers, cars and luggage were searched in an attempt to prevent an attack on the building, at a time when many airports around the world are on high alert for terror threats, although Switzerland itself is on low alert.

However, after the phone call was traced to the woman’s home in Annecy, France, the security measures were lifted and the airport resumed business – but not before running up costs of hundreds of thousands of euros, prosecution claimed in a court hearing on 28 July.

The fake bomb threat came just four weeks after Istanbul Ataturk airport was hit by explosions and gunfire an attack that left 41 people dead.

Speaking in court, the 41-year-old said: “My only aim was to cause problems for this woman. It was out of revenge,” The Local reported, with her defence stressing she had been married for 22 years, had four children and had taken the actions “of an injured woman”.