Officials across Europe reported a new series of bomb threats against multiple flights on Friday, extending a run of hoaxes that had already forced flight diversions earlier in the week. Three broadcasters also received security threats, raising the possibility that the disruption was spreading beyond aviation.
No suspicious items have been found and no one has been hurt, but the threats have stirred concern because they follow other disruptions in Europe, including attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems and drone incursions. Eurocontrol, the European air traffic authority, said the overall impact on aviation has been minimal. It knew of bomb threats against 14 flights on Thursday, just 0.05% of the nearly 26,300 flights across the European network that day, and seven on Tuesday. The European Union's transportation commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, said there were 11 more on Friday.
Airlines still have little choice but to treat each threat as real, said Robert Jordan, research director at Britain's Royal United Services Institute think tank. He told the BBC that secure messaging apps have made threats easier to deliver anonymously. "The risk appetite for airlines is always going to be incredibly low," he said. "It is baked into their safety procedures, and it's baked into their security procedures."
Tzitzikostas said after meeting Eurocontrol and the EU's Aviation Safety Agency in Brussels that security experts will gather in the Belgian capital next week to discuss countermeasures. "Our priority here is clear. The safety of passengers and the smooth functioning of European aviation," he said.
Hungary's defense minister, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, said fighter jets escorted three passenger planes through the country's airspace within an hour on Friday after each received a bomb threat, covering flights from Brussels to Sofia, and from Prague to Cyprus and Romania. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's office said four threats were made against aircraft over France; the planes landed safely at Paris' Orly Airport, where bomb disposal teams carried out inspections. Threats also targeted a Tarom flight from Prague to Bucharest and a Ryanair flight from Lisbon to Rome, while a WizzAir flight from Prague to Rome was diverted to Venice and passengers were evacuated.
Nine of the affected flights arrived at or departed from Václav Havel Airport in Prague, spokesperson Denisa Hejtmánková said, including services linked to Denmark, Spain, Britain, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Italy and Romania. Czech police said security steps had a minimal impact on airport operations. In Denmark, police deployed to Copenhagen airport for a second straight day as a precaution and found no danger. The cost of diversions and inspections worried travelers. "I think it's a big problem for aviation that this is happening," said Torstein Nymoen, a 52-year-old Norwegian passenger in Prague. "And I think that it's sad that some people are doing this."
More than two dozen flights were hit by threats earlier in the week. Who is behind them remains unknown, and no evidence has tied the hoaxes to any government, though they come amid heightened geopolitical tensions and warnings that Russia may be stepping up hybrid threats in Europe. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said the recent cyberattacks and bomb threats are cause for concern. "Today we are not in a position to say whether these events are all connected," she said in Verona. "But they certainly tell us the same thing: that civilian infrastructure is under attack." An email sent Thursday to Rome airport authorities, reviewed by The Associated Press, claimed to come from an anti-feminist group targeting a "feminist regime"; another European airport received similar wording, though it was unclear if the sender was the same.
Paul Reuter, vice president of the European Cockpit Association, said the threats weigh on pilots and create needless tension, but crews are prepared, reviewing procedures, identifying diversion airports and sometimes carrying extra fuel. He called the use of civil aviation for geopolitical disruption or hoaxes "totally unacceptable."
The threats also reached broadcasters. In Dublin, the headquarters of Irish national broadcaster RTE was evacuated on Friday, with prerecorded programs replacing live broadcasts until police with sniffer dogs declared the site safe. Irish police said they are liaising with media organizations and will investigate. Prime Minister Micheál Martin said the threats show "how relatively simple it can be to cause disruption and to undermine the normal operation of society," and promised a very significant security operation next week when Dublin hosts meetings of the European Political Community and EU leaders. U.K.-based broadcaster Sky said it received a security threat and is working with authorities, while Bulgaria's NOVA TV said it got a bomb threat by email from a sender claiming responsibility for the aviation threats; both broadcasters stayed on air.
