A Germanwings flight bound for Italy from Germany was evacuated last night due to a bomb threat, the airline said. The threat against flight 826 from Cologne Bonn to Milan's Malpensa airport was received on Sunday evening. The tower in Cologne immediately alerted the pilot of the Airbus A320, which was taxiing toward the runway at the time, Germanwings said. Scroll down for video . The threat against flight 826 from Cologne Bonn to Milan's Malpensa airport was received on Sunday evening. The tower in Cologne immediately alerted the pilot of the Airbus A320 (file picture of Germanwings plane) The threat was emailed to the airport 15 minutes before the plane's scheduled departure, prompting police to set the necessary measures in motion. Instead of taking off the pilot steered the plane to a different part of the airport where passengers and crew were evacuated. A total of 132 people were aboard the plane, including 126 passengers and six crew members, Spiegel-Online reported. A thorough search was carried out and federal police said sniffer dogs found no sign of explosives, news agency DPA reported. The threat was received just as the pilot was taxiing along the runway at Cologne Bonn Airport (pictured) An examination of the baggage and the aircraft itself also yielded no results Germanwings said in a separate statement later on Sunday evening. Germanwings said passengers flew to Milan on a different aircraft on Sunday night while the searched plane has now been cleared for air traffic. Germanwings, a budget unit of German airline Lufthansa, has been in the spotlight since one of its planes was deliberately crashed into a mountain in the French Alps last month, killing all 144 people on board. Germanwings has been in the spotlight since one of its planes was deliberately crashed into a mountain in the French Alps last month, killing everyone on board - a monument has been set up at the crash site . Lufthansa has faced questions about its pilot screening process since the March 24 crash which appears to have been caused by the plane's co-pilot who deliberately steered the plane into a mountain. The Airbus A320 went down in a remote region of the French Alps en route to Dusseldorf from Barcelona. Recordings from the flight data recorder suggest co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit before 'deliberately' crashing the jet. It emerged today Lufthansa may face corporate manslaughter charges for allowing Lubitz to fly after he suffered a bout of depression. Last month's crash appears to have been caused by the co-pilot who steered the plane into a mountain .
Germanwings plane was about to take off when bomb threat was received .
Pilot was forced to evacuate the plane while police conducted search .
Sniffer dogs found no evidence of explosives and no one was hurt .
Threat comes less than a month after Germanwings plane was deliberately crashed into mountain in the French Alps killing all 150 people on board .