A series of hoax bomb threats targeted European airlines from Ireland to Bulgaria on Thursday for the second time this week, forcing at least 25 flights to land far from their scheduled destinations or be escorted by fighter jets.
Several airlines across Europe received these threats for the second time this week on their planes, forcing many of them to make emergency or guarded landings, although none of these threats have been proven true.
Military fighter jets took over escorting some of them, and their course was diverted, according to what the authorities and airlines concerned reported.
The Spanish authorities reported that three flights were affected by false bomb threats at Madrid Airport on Thursday morning, adding that security forces ruled out any danger. The phenomenon of numerous bomb warnings on planes entered its third day in a row, most of which targeted flights in Europe of low-cost airlines. It seemed that the largest share of the threats targeted the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair, which had bomb warnings on four of its flights. Civil aviation authorities in a number of European countries announced that several planes were forced to make an emergency landing on Thursday after their course was diverted due to threats of bombs on board. The Finnish company Finnair said that flight No. 1761, heading from Helsinki to Rome, received a bomb threat, but nothing unusual was found on board the plane after it landed normally in the Italian capital, according to what was reported by the Finnish broadcaster YLE. Three Ryanair flights heading to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, were forced to make an emergency landing due to bomb threats on board. Airport officials told reporters that two of the three flights, one coming from Copenhagen, Denmark and the other from Madrid, landed safely at Vasil Levski Airport in the capital, Sofia. As for the third flight, which was coming from Stansted Airport in London, heading to Sofia, its course was diverted and landed safely at Plovdiv Airport, the second largest city in Bulgaria, according to what the CEO of Plovdiv Airport, Krasmir Peshev, said. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecourneau's office said on Thursday that an Airbus A320 plane heading from Dublin to Rome diverted to the French air base of Evreux after receiving a bomb alert, in the latest series of threats targeting flights in Europe. The office added that it is closely monitoring the situation. According to the Flight Radar 24 flight tracking website, an Aer Lingus plane turned around near Paris and was flying in circles over the Evreux region after declaring a state of emergency during the flight. The office said that the plane landed safely at the military base in the city of Evreux in the Normandy region. The office added that all 151 passengers and six crew members were fine. He said that military teams specialized in defusing bombs were examining the plane, adding that he was still following the developments of the situation moment by moment, without revealing further details yet. Belgian media reported that the plane that was forced to land at Zaventem Airport in Brussels belonged to the Polish airline LOT. The Czech News Agency quoted a police spokesman as saying that no explosives were found on board four planes that received bomb threats and landed in Prague. An informed source said that the Italian Air Force accompanied a Finnair plane coming from Helsinki until it landed safely in Rome according to its scheduled flight schedule. The Rome Airports Company stated that the bomb alert did not cause any disruption to the operations of Rome Fiumicino Airport. No party has claimed responsibility for the threats, which come at a time when European officials hold Russia and Iran responsible for what they describe as “hybrid” attacks and acts of sabotage. Moscow and Tehran deny these accusations. Eric Schouten, head of aviation security group Diame, said that most of the affected countries support Ukraine in its confrontation with the Russian invasion. He added: “From a geopolitical perspective, I think we should always think about a hybrid war scenario in which one country attacks in this way on multiple fronts, from railways to supermarkets to blood banks more recently, and today we are talking about Russia, right? Among these fronts are the energy sector, the Internet sector, and the aviation sector. At least seven flights and a cruise ship in Europe received bomb threats on Tuesday, causing disruptions at airports, although no devices were found. London police said they were “notified of threats... affecting four planes that were scheduled to depart from or arrive at Heathrow Airport,” on Tuesday, one of the busiest European airports. The police did not go into any details, but indicated that there was a flight warning at Manchester Airport in northern England. The British Metropolitan Police added that after conducting checks, “no security issues were identified.” Tuesday's warnings included two flights heading to Warsaw, one of which was a flight of the Scandinavian company SAS that took off from Copenhagen, and the other was for a flight operated by the Polish airline LOT that took off from Heathrow Airport, according to Polish authorities. No party claimed responsibility for these threats, nor did officials press charges against any party. None of the airlines included in the threats responded to requests from Reuters for comment. Receiving seven confirmed bomb threats in one day on flights is exceptional, said Rhys Jones, director of output analysis at aviation risk management consultancy Osprey Flight Solutions. Jones added to Reuters: “Not specifying a country, airline or route reflects that the goal is to cause disruption to aviation operations in general.” This week, unknown electronic hackers were able to stop refrigerators in major stores in several European countries. Some experts said hoax bomb threats may be part of a similar pattern of low-cost, deniable jamming efforts.
