Bomb Threats Disrupt at Least 27 Flights Across Europe

Aer Lingus flight EI402 left Dublin for Rome at 06:40 GMT. Instead of reaching Italy, the Airbus A320 landed at Évreux-Fauville, an air base in Normandy roughly 100 kilometres west of Paris.

The office of French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the aircraft was carrying 151 passengers and six crew members. Italian authorities had alerted France to a bomb threat, and a French fighter jet escorted the plane towards the base.

Bomb disposal personnel met the aircraft. Passengers and crew were taken to safety while specialists examined the plane. French authorities said the passengers were questioned and checked in groups of 10. Aer Lingus called the diversion a precaution and began arranging onward travel to Rome.

The airline had to organise alternative transport for passengers after their arrival at the military base. French aviation security authorities opened an investigation into the warning.

Alerts across the map

Bulgaria scrambled fighter jets for three Ryanair flights bound for Sofia. Services from Copenhagen and Madrid continued to the capital, while the flight from London Stansted was diverted to Plovdiv. Bulgarian officials confirmed the military escorts and subsequent searches.

In Italy, a Finnair service from Helsinki received a fighter-jet escort before landing at Rome Fiumicino. Another Finnair service, from Helsinki to Vienna, reached its destination despite a warning. At Milan Malpensa, an Aegean Airlines flight from Thessaloniki and a Ryanair flight from Porto were subject to alerts. Aegean also reported a warning against its Athens–Vienna service.

Poland received an emailed threat concerning a Wizz Air plane from Milan to Warsaw.

The crew diverted to Vienna, where Austrian police searched the aircraft before it continued its journey. Wizz Air said the diversion followed its established safety procedures. Another of its services, from Milan to Bucharest, was examined after arrival in Romania. A separate alert affected an Air Serbia flight from Belgrade to Bucharest.

Prague police dealt with warnings concerning four incoming flights. Among them were easyJet services from Newcastle and Glasgow. The planes arrived, and police checked them despite assessing the messages as unlikely to be credible.

Spain's Guardia Civil received three threatening emails within 20 minutes.

They referred to two Air Europa services preparing to fly from Madrid to Paris and four Iberia flights arriving from Rome and Milan. Some aircraft were held or returned to their stands so passengers could disembark for checks.

At Warsaw Chopin Airport, a LOT flight preparing to leave for Paris was stopped while taxiing. Passengers were moved to a replacement aircraft. Another LOT flight, from Warsaw to Brussels, was inspected after arrival.

Danish police also searched two aircraft at Copenhagen Airport.

The cases illustrate the differences between an airborne alert and one received before departure. A warning against a plane already in flight can mean rerouting it through another country's airspace. On the ground, officials can stop a departure and examine the aircraft before it leaves the airport.

Britain drawn in

Heathrow and Birmingham airports received bomb warnings on Thursday, according to the Press Association. Both were assessed as not credible, and neither airport reported wider disruption to operations.

British Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander called the warnings malicious hoaxes.

In Ireland, Cork Airport received an anonymous telephone threat concerning a particular flight.

The aircraft departed about 90 minutes late after checks carried out with An Garda Síochána. Dublin Airport continued operating while Aer Lingus dealt with the diversion of its Rome-bound service to France.

The warnings began earlier

The first reported incidents in this sequence came on Monday, 2 November. A Wizz Air flight from London Luton to Sofia was diverted to Budapest, where Hungary deployed a Gripen fighter jet to escort it.

On Tuesday, at least seven passenger flights and a cruise ship received bomb threats. A LOT flight from London to Warsaw diverted to Warsaw-Modlin, causing a temporary suspension of operations there. A Scandinavian Airlines flight from Copenhagen reached Warsaw Chopin Airport but also underwent checks.

In Sofia, teams inspected a Wizz Air aircraft from Milan Bergamo and a Ryanair service from Dublin. Bulgarian officials said they carried 176 and 185 passengers respectively. Rome Fiumicino examined Ryanair flights arriving from Lisbon and Dublin; Spanish police checked a Ryanair flight from Manchester to Murcia.

In Greece, the response extended beyond airports. Officials searched the cruise ship Crown Iris near Syros after an allegation that a device was attached to its hull. The initial inspection found nothing suspicious.

The three days of warnings involved different airlines, airports and national security agencies. The affected routes stretched from western Europe to the Balkans, with several incidents prompting military intervention.

Why the jets were sent

A fighter-jet escort is one of the most visible responses to a possible security emergency. It does not establish that a bomb is on board. The military aircraft can accompany a passenger plane while controllers and authorities arrange a suitable landing.

Airlines generally receive and assess warnings through security teams. Aviation security specialist Eric Schouten of Dyami told Reuters that carriers use established procedures to determine how to respond and when to involve national authorities. The decision depends on the information in the threat, the aircraft's location and the options available to its crew.

Captain Helen Askew, a former airline head of flight safety, told the Guardian that warnings often arrive via public email addresses or customer-service numbers. Security officials look for details that could indicate whether the sender has genuine knowledge of an aircraft or its operations.

Once a plane is on the ground, searches may cover the cabin, hold and baggage. Officials can also require passengers to disembark. Those steps can keep an aircraft out of service even when a threat is considered unlikely to be genuine.

The cost of a diversion

An aircraft diverted to another airport may miss its next scheduled journey. Passengers can lose connections, and crews may reach limits on working hours before the plane is ready to leave again. Airlines must then arrange replacement staff, transport or accommodation.

Schouten told Reuters that unloading passengers and baggage, completing a search and preparing the plane to depart again can add significant delays. At an airport such as Warsaw-Modlin, where operations were temporarily suspended on Tuesday, the effects can extend to flights unrelated to the warning.

Under European passenger-rights rules, travellers affected by qualifying long delays or cancellations can be entitled to meals, accommodation and alternative travel. A security threat may count as an extraordinary circumstance when compensation is assessed, but that does not automatically remove an airline's duty to provide assistance.

Clues in the emails

Investigators have begun examining the messages themselves. Associated Press obtained a copy of an email threatening flights bound for Rome. Its sender claimed to represent an anti-feminist group. An official at another European airport told AP that a similar message had arrived there, using some of the same wording.

AFP reported that one message sent to Rome's airport operator used the name Male State. A far-right movement with that name exists in Russia, but AFP could not establish any link between the movement and the email. An anonymous sender's choice of name is not proof of identity.

The distinction matters because authorities have not attributed the threats to a named person, group or government. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told AP he had no information identifying those responsible and warned against making accusations without evidence.

Some aviation specialists suspect that the concentration of alerts is deliberate. Rhys Jones of Osprey Flight Solutions told the Guardian that their geographical spread suggested an effort to cause disruption without a single clearly defined target.

Eliran Almog of cybersecurity firm Cyviation told Reuters that repeated warnings might also reveal how airlines and national agencies react. Neither assessment establishes who sent the emails or why.

Brussels searches for answers

EU Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said the Commission had activated a mechanism for sharing aviation security information with member states and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. He said it was too early to determine whether the incidents were connected and that officials had no information establishing a cyberattack.

Air France-KLM chief executive Ben Smith described the concentration of warnings as unlike anything he had encountered before. He nevertheless expressed confidence in existing airline security procedures and did not call for immediate changes.