European airlines face new wave of bomb threats
Dozens of flights were diverted or inspected after multiple airports received alerts, though no explosives were found.
By Robert Marshall ·
Passengers across Europe faced new delays and security checks on Friday as a fresh series of bomb threats targeted commercial flights. Officials reported that multiple aircraft received alerts, forcing diversions and inspections. No suspicious items were found, and no one was injured during the incidents.
The threats come after a busy week of disruptions for European aviation. Authorities had already dealt with a string of hoaxes earlier in the week. These incidents included attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems and drone incursions in the region. Eurocontrol, the European air traffic authority, said the threats have caused minimal disruption to the overall network.
On Thursday, Eurocontrol identified bomb threats against 14 flights. That number represented 0.05% of the nearly 26,300 flights across the European network that day. Seven flights received similar threats on Tuesday. In Hungary, defense minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi stated that military fighter jets escorted three separate passenger planes across the country's airspace on Friday. The flights were from Brussels to Sofia, Prague to Cyprus, and Prague to Romania.
In France, the office of Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu reported four new bomb threats against aircraft flying over French territory on Friday. The planes landed safely at Paris Orly Airport. Bomb disposal experts conducted inspections of the aircraft. In Prague, a WizzAir flight from Prague to Rome was diverted to Venice. Passengers were evacuated after the aircraft landed. Security inspections found no explosives.
Spokesperson Denisa Hejtmánková at Prague's Vaclav Havel Airport said a total of nine flights were threatened on Friday. The list included arrivals from Denmark, Spain, and Britain, and departures to the Netherlands, Cyprus, Romania, Italy, and Britain. Czech police said the security measures had a minimal impact on normal operations. In Copenhagen, police went to the airport for a second consecutive day as a precaution. They assessed that there was no danger to passengers.
Authorities have not attributed the threats to a specific group or state actor. An email sent Thursday to Rome airport authorities purported to come from an anti-feminist group. The group claimed to be targeting a feminist regime. Another European airport received a threat with similar wording. It is unclear if the same sender issued both alerts. Irish broadcaster RTE evacuated its Dublin headquarters on Friday after a bomb threat. Live broadcasts were replaced with pre-recorded programs until police and sniffer dogs cleared the building.
Paul Reuter, vice president of the European Cockpit Association, said pilots review diversion procedures and may carry extra fuel in response to such threats. He called the use of civil aviation for geopolitical disruption totally unacceptable. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said the threats illustrate how simple it can be to cause disruption. He noted that a large security operation will be in place next week when Dublin hosts European Union leaders.
