European Flights and Airports Target by Wave of Hoax Bomb Threats

At least 21 aircraft and multiple airports across Europe were targeted by a series of bomb threats on Thursday, marking the second such widespread incident within a week. Security checks and inspections yielded no explosives, and officials in the United Kingdom labeled the disruptions a malicious hoax.

The hoaxes affected flights operating across Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Poland, and Romania. The wave of threats led to emergency diversions, military fighter jet escorts, and thorough ground inspections. An Aer Lingus flight traveling from Dublin to Rome was forced to divert to the Évreux-Fauville military air base in Normandy, France, where passengers waited on board for two-and-a-half hours while military personnel, police, and sniffer dogs searched the plane. Italian fighter jets were deployed to escort a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome, while Bulgarian military aircraft escorted three Ryanair flights landing in Sofia and Plovdiv.

AIRLINES AND AIRPORTS RESPOND TO SECURITY ALERTS

Numerous carriers confirmed disruptions related to the threats. EasyJet reported that flights from Newcastle and Glasgow were met by police upon landing in Prague as a precaution, with passengers disembarking normally. Czech police later confirmed that four landed planes were searched and cleared of explosives. Wizz Air diverted a Milan-to-Warsaw flight to Vienna, while another flight to Bucharest landed safely and underwent inspection. Polish carrier LOT conducted security screenings on a flight from Warsaw to Paris prior to takeoff and reported no hazardous items, while another flight to Brussels landed without incident.

Additional incidents involved Aegean Airlines, Air Serbia, Iberia, and Ryanair flights across various routes, including services to Milan, Madrid, Vienna, and Bucharest. In the UK, London Heathrow and Birmingham airports received threats that were immediately evaluated by authorities. Heathrow stated the warning was deemed not credible and presented no risk to passengers or aircraft, while UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed that established protocols were used to handle the malicious threats, which were ultimately resolved.

ORIGIN OF THE WARNINGS UNDER INVESTIGATION

According to Aeroporti di Roma, airport management in Rome received an email warning targeting two inbound flights. The message claimed to be from a group or individual calling themselves "Fighters of the Male State," making threats against a "feminist regime" and threatening explosions. The name aligns with "Muzhskoi Legion" (Male Legion), an ultra-right Russian group banned by a Moscow court in 2021 that maintains online followers. Officials have not established if the claims in the email are genuine or directly responsible for the broader series of hoaxes across the continent.