Bomb threats force emergency landings and diversions on at least 15 European flights
Hoax bomb alerts prompted emergency landings and diversions of more than a dozen flights across Europe, prompting security checks that found no explosives.
Bomb threats triggered emergency landings and diversions for at least 15 flights across Europe on Thursday, affecting carriers including Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Wizz Air, Finnair and LOT. Two Ryanair flights from Copenhagen and Madrid to Sofia made emergency landings in Sofia, while a Ryanair service from London to Sofia was diverted to Plovdiv. An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome was rerouted to a French military airbase, and a Wizz Air flight from Milan to Warsaw was diverted to Vienna. Additional flights to Prague, Brussels, Rome, Vienna and Milan were inspected or redirected, but initial searches found no suspicious material.
A Bulgarian government spokesperson said inspections were carried out according to procedures and no issues were identified, and airport operations returned to normal. A Czech police spokesperson reported that pyrotechnic inspections at Prague airport yielded negative results. An airline representative for Finnair described the threats as “unfounded or hoax” and noted that such threats are often baseless.
Analysts noted the timing of the alerts followed cyber-attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems and suggested the incidents could be part of a broader hybrid campaign aimed at unsettling Europe. A Kremlin spokesperson dismissed accusations linking Russia to the fridge attacks as “absurd”.
Aviation experts said fake threats are common, but the volume of alerts this week points to possible coordination. Capt. Martin Drake, a former airline pilot, explained that airlines use a traffic-light system to assess threats, with red alerts prompting grounding or diversion. He added that disrupting a flight is most effective once it is airborne. Rhys Jones, an analyst at Osprey Flight Solutions, said the incidents are likely a “reasonably chaotic campaign” without a specific regional focus, and that while security protocols are unlikely to change, heightened media coverage and public concern are expected.