Hoax bomb threats have targeted dozens of flights around Europe over the past week, causing delays and diversions and, in some cases, prompting governments to scramble fighter jets to escort planes.
But in several European airports, there was little panic to be found.
Although the bomb threats come at a moment of anxiety for Europe — destabilized by Russia’s war in Ukraine and the threat of hybrid warfare — the false alarms have created more frustration than fear for passengers already worn down by the stresses of flying.
A bomb threat would be “the last straw,” said Almudena Monterroso, a 58-year-old notary who was camped out on the floor of Madrid’s airport on Thursday evening. Her flight to Strasbourg, France, had been delayed, then canceled, and her daughter was wrangling with customer service on the phone. But neither the airline nor any of her fellow passengers had mentioned a bomb, Ms. Monterroso said.
At airports in Rome, Madrid and Warsaw on Thursday, there were no mass delays or visible extra security measures. Passengers vaped, scrolled and passed through security checks in relative calm.
“What bomb threat?” said Eduardo Ahumada, 33, an architect from Mexico who was flying from Rome to Madrid on vacation. He had noticed a gaggle of TV crews outside the airport’s screening area, “so I thought maybe someone important was coming,” he said. “But bomb threats — that seems like important information.”
As the threats continued on Friday, targeting air traffic in Prague, Copenhagen and elsewhere, it remained unclear who the culprits were. Several officials characterized the threats, many of which have been aimed at low-cost carriers, as an effort to undermine Europe, although they stopped short of pointing a finger at any group or country.
José Manuel Albares, Spain’s foreign minister, told the country’s public broadcaster on Friday that the bomb threats were “hybrid aggression and psychological warfare.”
“There are actors in the world who operate in this way to weaken Europe,” he warned.
Italy’s defense minister, Guido Crosetto, told reporters on Thursday that the threats were “part of a strategy to increase chaos” and “create panic” in Europe, alongside incidents that have included cyberattacks on supermarket refrigerators and blood banks, as well as drone sightings over military installations and airports.
Some passengers expressed similar concerns. Mr. Ahumada, the Mexican architect, said he was deeply concerned about Russia’s war in Ukraine and that he was nervously following Poland’s efforts to beef up security at its northern frontier with Russia.
“We take our vacations in Europe because it’s supposed to be safe,” Mr. Ahumada said. But, he added, “The world right now is very crazy in every corner.”
Nicola Timpone, 62, a passenger on a flight from Dublin to Rome that was diverted to a French air base because of one of the debunked threats, said the experience had deeply rattled him.
“In Europe, in this particular moment, no one can feel safe,” said Mr. Timpone, an art director and development worker. “These hackers and these bomb alerts,” he added, “fuel all citizens’ fears.”
Others did not worry about their safety but said the threats were contributing to a sense of European unease.
In the last few years, young Europeans have “faced a situation that’s very uncertain,” said Richard Tatzreiter, 56, a Roman Catholic priest returning from a business trip in the Vatican to Vienna, where he had a funeral to officiate. Working with seminarians and his parishioners made clear that they feel “so much more anxiety” about European security than he did in his youth, he said.
Johnbull Ewele, a 40-year-old Swedish delivery officer flying home after a Roman vacation, said that a bomb threat didn’t worry him but that Europeans needed to snap to attention. “We don’t know the next attack,” he said. “I think everyone should be very careful.”
For many passengers, however, it was just another day in transit.
“I’m not worried about that,” Hannah Grzesiak, 40, said at Warsaw’s international airport after learning about the wave of bomb threats. “The probability of anything happening is very low.”
Michelle Sinclair, a 42-year-old Australian development worker, said that she was more peeved than nervous by the possibility of a bomb threat diverting her flight from Rome to Málaga. The threats make travel, “already annoying,” even more so, she said.
Whoever is behind the hoaxes, she added, “needs to be slapped.”
Anatol Magdziarz contributed reporting from Warsaw.
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