Bomb threats disrupted flights across Europe on Thursday, November 5, forcing diversions, emergency landings and security inspections, with military aircraft escorting some passenger planes. More than a dozen flights involving cities including Dublin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Madrid, Milan and Warsaw were targeted. The incidents followed similar hoaxes earlier in the week that had also led to searches and diversions.
An Aer Lingus service travelling from Dublin to Rome was redirected to the Évreux military air base in Normandy, western France, according to the office of French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. All 151 passengers and six crew members were safe. Military bomb disposal specialists were examining the aircraft, while passengers underwent questioning and checks in groups of 10.
Lecornu’s office said Italian authorities had notified France about the threat and a French warplane accompanied the Aer Lingus aircraft to the base. French aviation security authorities began an investigation. Separately, an official at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport told The Associated Press that Italian fighter jets escorted a Finnair service from Helsinki to Rome following a threat sent by email.
Finnair described threats affecting two of its flights as unfounded hoaxes. A search of flight AY1761, which was scheduled to leave for Helsinki, uncovered nothing. The airline said another service, operated by Jettime from Helsinki to Vienna, arrived safely and was expected to resume operations once an inspection was completed.
Three Ryanair services heading to Sofia, Bulgaria, made emergency landings after receiving bomb threats. Aircraft arriving from Copenhagen and Madrid landed safely in Sofia, while a flight from London’s Stansted Airport was diverted to Plovdiv. Bulgarian fighter jets accompanied all three aircraft. Officials said searches found no explosives.
In the Czech Republic, police searched four aircraft after they arrived in Prague and reported finding nothing suspicious. Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar said an anonymous threat received by Václav Havel Airport Prague referred both to explosives aboard the incoming planes and to devices inside the airport. Czech police, including the National Center Against Terrorism, Extremism and Cybercrime, were investigating and communicating with foreign partners, he said.
LOT Polish Airlines said its Warsaw to Brussels flight landed safely and subsequent checks revealed no hazardous or suspicious items. Authorities also inspected a LOT aircraft preparing to fly from Warsaw to Paris after a threat was reported at the airport. No threat was identified, although security procedures temporarily closed one runway.
A Wizz Air flight travelling from Milan to Bucharest also arrived safely, with airport officials reporting that inspections found no danger. Another flight from Milan, bound for Warsaw, was redirected to Vienna. A separate threat prompted a search of a flight that had landed in Vienna. Nothing was discovered, and the aircraft continued to Warsaw.
