Europe Reports 21 Bomb Threats Against Flights and Broadcasters in 48 Hours
Authorities in Hungary, France, and Czechia managed a surge of aviation threats on Friday, while Irish and UK broadcasters also reported security alerts.
By Daniela Ortega ·
European air traffic officials reported 21 bomb threats against commercial flights on Tuesday and Friday, a spike in activity that followed a week of similar disruptions across the continent.
Eurocontrol, the European air traffic authority, identified 14 flights threatened on Thursday and seven on Tuesday. The organization stated that these incidents represented 0.05 percent of the nearly 26,300 flights operating across the European network on Thursday alone.
On Friday, Hungary’s defense minister, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, announced that fighter jets escorted three passenger planes through Hungarian airspace within one hour. The jets accompanied flights from Brussels to Sofia, and from Prague to Cyprus and Romania, after each aircraft received a bomb threat.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s office confirmed four bomb threats against aircraft flying over France. The affected planes landed at Paris’ Orly Airport, where bomb disposal experts inspected the aircraft. A Ryanair flight from Lisbon to Rome and a Tarom flight from Prague to Bucharest also received threats. A WizzAir flight from Prague to Rome diverted to Venice, and passengers evacuated the aircraft after it landed.
At Prague's Václav Havel Airport, spokesperson Denisa Hejtmánková said nine flights were threatened, including arrivals from Denmark, Spain, and Britain, and departures to the Netherlands, Cyprus, Romania, Italy, and Britain. Czech police stated that security measures had a minimal impact on normal airport operations. In Denmark, police deployed to Copenhagen airport for a second consecutive day as a precaution, though they deemed there was no danger to passengers.
Robert Jordan, research director at Britain's Royal United Services Institute, noted that airlines must treat every threat seriously because they are responsible for passenger lives. Jordan said secure messaging apps have allowed for greater anonymity in making threats, and the risk appetite for airlines remains incredibly low.
Torstein Nymoen, a 52-year-old Norwegian traveler at Prague airport, said the situation is a big problem for aviation. He noted that diverting and inspecting flights is costly for companies and sad that people are causing such disruptions.
In Ireland, police evacuated the Dublin headquarters of national broadcaster RTE on Friday due to a bomb threat. Live broadcasts were replaced with prerecorded programs for a few hours while police with sniffer dogs searched the building. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said the threats illustrate how simple it is to cause disruption through unconventional activities designed to create fear. He confirmed a security operation would be in place next week when Dublin hosts meetings of the European Political Community and European Union leaders.
U.K.-based broadcaster Sky also received a security threat and said it was working closely with authorities to ensure operations remained secure. Sky News remained on air during the alert.
Authorities have not attributed the threats to any specific group or state actor. An email sent Thursday to airport authorities in Rome and reviewed by The Associated Press purported to come from a group describing itself as anti-feminist. Another European airport received a threat with similar wording, but officials did not confirm if it came from the same sender.
