Bomb threats targeted multiple flights across Europe on Thursday, two days after similar threats prompted searches and diversions of several planes.
More than a dozen flights were affected, including ones from airports in Dublin, Madrid, Copenhagen, London, Warsaw, Milan and Helsinki, the Associated Press reported, citing authorities and airlines. So far no inspections have led to the discovery of suspicious materials.
Apostolos Tzitzikostas, the European Union’s transport and tourism commissioner, said it was “too early to draw conclusions on whether the incidents are linked.”
“I have asked the national authorities, that have the responsibility for assessing security threats, investigating incidents and implementing appropriate aviation security measures, to cooperate closely with airport operators, airlines and law enforcement authorities,” he said on X.
An Aer Lingus flight traveling from Dublin to Rome was diverted to the Évreux air base in Normandy because of a bomb threat, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s office said. The flight’s 151 passengers and six crew members were moved to a safe place and a bomb squad was inspecting the plane, it added.
Aer Lingus said in an statement that Flight 402 was diverted “as a security precaution” and landed safely. The French military escorted the plane to the air base, broadcaster BFM reported.
Finnish airline Finnair said in a statement that two flights, 1761 from Helsinki to Rome and 1471 from Helsinki to Vienna, faced “unfounded or hoax bomb threats.”
Both flights were searched by authorities upon landing, a spokesperson said, but “nothing out of the ordinary was found.”
In Prague, Czech police said they deployed at the Vaclav Havel Airport to prepare for the arrival of four planes after receiving a threat of explosive devices on board. Police later said their search had concluded and the planes were cleared.
LOT Polish Airlines said its flight from Warsaw to Brussels landed at its destination, where inspections found no hazardous or suspicious items.
Another flight from Warsaw to Paris was stopped while taxiing and directed to park while the aircraft and baggage were screened, the company said. No hazardous items were found, and the flight continued on a different aircraft.
Three Ryanair flights bound for Sofia, Bulgaria, were affected by bomb threats, the AP reported. Airport officials said two of the flights, one from Copenhagen and one from Madrid, landed safely at Sofia’s Vasil Levski Airport.
The third Sofia-bound flight, from London’s Stansted Airport, landed in Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-largest city.
A spokesperson for Hungarian airline Wizz Air confirmed one of its flights from Milan to Bucharest received a bomb threat but was able to land safely. The aircraft was cleared after it was checked, the spokesperson said.
In Austria, fighter jets were deployed to assist affected planes in the nation’s airspace, Defense Ministry spokesperson Michael Bauer said on X. Bulgaria’s Air Force also said its fighter jets intercepted and escorted three planes targeted by bomb threats.
Although European officials did not immediately attribute blame for the bomb threats, they come at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions and concern over possible acts of sabotage. In recent weeks, refrigeration systems in supermarkets across Europe have been targeted in cyberattacks, and on Sunday, emergency alert apps in Ukraine and Russia were hacked.
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