Dozen Flights Land Under Alert After Wave of Bomb Threats Sweeps Europe
Aer Lingus pilots diverted to a French airbase as carriers from Finland to Serbia reported security scares across eight nations.
By Aiko Soto ·
At least a dozen commercial aircraft made unscheduled or high-alert landings across eight European countries on Thursday, according to authorities in Austria, France, Italy, Belgium, Czechia, Spain, Serbia, and Bulgaria. The disruptions began in France, where an Aer Lingus Airbus A320 heading from Dublin to Rome diverted to the Evreux airbase west of Paris after receiving a bomb threat. Tracking data showed the plane sharply deviating from its course near Parisian airspace before French Air Force jets escorted it to the isolated field. The office of Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu confirmed the aircraft landed safely and that security teams were monitoring the situation in real time.
Similar alerts triggered diversions elsewhere on the continent. In Italy, a Finnair flight from Helsinki arrived in Rome with a military escort, while another Finnish carrier operated by Jettime landed in Vienna as scheduled. A Wizz Air plane from Milan to Warsaw also made an unscheduled stop in Vienna. Bulgarian authorities reported three emergency landings, and three Ryanair flights bound for Sofia from Copenhagen, Madrid, and London Stansted operated under high alert. Two of those Ryanair planes touched down in Sofia, while the third diverted to Plovdiv, according to the airport’s CEO.
Further alerts affected operations in Spain and the Czech Republic. Police in Madrid stated that three flights at the capital’s airport faced what they described as hoax threats, with security forces searching the area and ruling out any risk. In Prague, officials prepared for four landings after reports of improvised explosive devices on board. Czech police assessed the relevance of the threats as low but activated necessary security measures to limit impact on passengers.
In Serbia, Air Serbia announced that a flight from Belgrade to Bucharest landed safely after receiving a bomb threat. Italian news outlets and Reuters cited airport sources saying an Aegean Airlines flight from Thessaloniki and a Ryanair flight from Porto landed at Milan’s Malpensa airport as scheduled following morning alerts. Two additional Finnair planes landed at their scheduled destinations amid security scares, according to the carrier.
The European Union Commissioner for Transport and Tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, called threats against civilians unacceptable. He noted that it was too early to draw conclusions on whether the reported incidents were linked, adding that national investigations remain ongoing. Preliminary information indicates no dangerous materials were found in Thursday’s threats, mirroring the outcome of similar incidents earlier in the week. Those prior disruptions, which targeted airlines including LOT, Scandinavian Airlines, Wizz Air, and Ryanair, also turned out to be hoaxes.
These aviation disruptions coincide with a series of apparent cyberattacks targeting freezer units in major supermarkets and French blood banks. Authorities have not yet confirmed a direct link between the bomb threats and the cyber incidents. All cases remain under investigation as security teams continue to assess the scope of the disturbances.
