A series of hoax bomb threats hit at least 27 European flights on Thursday morning, affecting airlines from Ireland to Bulgaria for the second time this week, with some making unplanned landings or being escorted by fighter jets.
While no country has attributed blame for the threats, they come at a time when many European officials have accused Russia of masterminding sabotage and “hybrid attacks” — often cheap, easily deniable and not expected to trigger an armed response.
Denmark, Poland and Romania — all affected by Thursday’s disruptions — have previously accused Moscow directly, while Germany blamed Russia for a drone attack on Leipzig airport in August. Britain has blamed Russia in the past, but linked Iran to a suspected plot to attack a U.S. airbase. Both Russia and Iran deny any involvement.
The Italian news agency ANSA said two planes had landed as planned in Milan, while a person familiar with the matter said Italy’s air force escorted a Finnair plane coming from Helsinki to its scheduled landing in Rome.
The operator of Rome’s Fiumicino Airport said there had been no disruption to services, and that departing passengers were philosophical.
“It’s more complicated with everything that’s going on, but what else are we going to do?” said Spaniard Lucia Parga. “We still have to get around. So, well, we just have to deal with it as best we can.”
Another traveller, Gabriele Franzese, added: “You can’t worry too much about every piece of news. If the plane crashes, so be it. If it’s meant to happen, it’ll happen anyway.”
Another Finnair flight from Helsinki, operated by Jettime, landed as normal in Vienna after receiving a bomb threat, Finnair said.
Fighter jets scrambled in France
In France, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s office said he had sent fighter jets to intercept an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome, escorting it to an air force base at Evreux after the pilot did not co-operate with authorities as expected.
No reason was given for the pilot’s behaviour.
A view of Fiumicino Airport in Rome is shown, after a Finnair plane from Helsinki was safely escorted by Italian military jets following bomb threats that forced airliners to make unplanned landings across Europe. (Remo Casilli/Reuters)
Joji Waites, director of flight safety for the British Airline Pilots’ Association, said it was industry practice that airlines did not act on threats unless they had been rated credible by assessors.
Also Thursday, Spanish authorities received three emailed bomb threats in under 20 minutes, starting around 9 a.m. local time, involving two Air Europa departures from Madrid to Paris and four inbound Iberia flights from Rome and Milan, Spain’s Guardia Civil said.
Several aircraft were halted or returned to their stands and passengers were disembarked while planes were inspected.
Two EasyJet flights from Britain, one flight from Ireland and one from Greece landed as scheduled in Prague after receiving bomb threats. Czech police said they had assessed the credibility of the threats as low.
Bulgarian officials reported three aircraft, all under the Ryanair banner, made emergency landings because of bomb threats.
Airplanes flying from Copenhagen and Madrid landed in Sofia, the country’s interior minister said, according to broadcaster bTV. A third aircraft, from London, landed in Plovdiv, local media said.
Airport operations at both Sofia and Plovdiv airport operations soon returned to normal, Bulgaria’s Transport Ministry told Reuters, after no issues were identified following inspections of the planes.
Passengers check their flight at Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Fiumicino, near Rome, Thursday, amid disruptions across multiple flights across Europe. (Gregorio Borgia/The Associated Press)
Polish airlines LOT said a flight from Warsaw to Brussels landed safely at its destination Thursday after a security warning and no threat was confirmed.
“No suspicious items were found,” a LOT spokesperson said.
Another flight from Cork in Ireland was delayed 90 minutes after the airport received a threat, the airport operator said. At Copenhagen airport in Denmark, two planes were searched, police said.
Airport, supermarket disruptions earlier this week
On Tuesday, at least seven flights and a cruise ship received bomb threats, causing disruption at airports across Europe, although no devices were discovered.
Drone incursions have periodically forced flight delays and cancellations in Europe and, this week, unidentified hackers shut down fridges in supermarkets in several countries across the continent.
Eliran Almog, CEO of aviation cybersecurity firm Cyviation, said the repeated threats could serve both to disrupt operations and to observe how airlines, airports and national authorities respond.
“These aviation threats are also occurring in the same period as cyberattacks on supermarket refrigeration systems across Europe,” Almog said.
“Different essential services are experiencing disruption that carries economic costs and can undermine public confidence.”
