14 European flights hit by hoax bomb threats in 3 days

Rome: Italian, French and Bulgarian fighter jets scrambled Thursday as at least 14 European flights were hit by hoax bomb alerts for the third day this week, authorities and airlines said.

The hoaxes particularly targeted low-cost carriers and flights to or from Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Italy.

Italian air force jets escorted a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome while French fighters guided a Aer Lingus Dublin-Rome flight to a military base outside Paris. Bulgaria's air force escorted three planes targeted by threats.

Three flights were diverted in all but all the jets landed safely with no explosives found.

More than 20 hoaxes have now been reported this week with low-cost carrier Ryanair the victim of at least seven.

Ryanair

Three Ryanair planes headed for Sofia from Madrid, Copenhagen, and London Stansted were targeted by bomb threats, a spokesperson for the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport told AFP.

Two of the planes landed in Sofia but the flight from London-Stansted was diverted to Plovdiv Airport, east of the capital.

Air force fighter jets escorted all three planes, the defense ministry said, saying such missions "detect, identify and escort the aircraft."

All three planes were later inspected, and no explosives were found, an interior ministry spokesperson told AFP.

Finnair

A Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome was escorted to Rome by a fighter jet and checked by bomb experts, a Romes Fiumicino Airport spokesman told AFP.

A Finnair spokesperson Stiina Tuunanen, confirmed that "nothing unusual was found" when the jet landed.

Finnair has a "very clear process that we follow in situations like this, and we always work closely with the local authorities," Tuunanen said.

She said another false bomb threat had targeted flight AY1471 from Helsinki to Vienna, without providing further information.

Wizz Air

After receiving a threat, a Wizz Air flight from Milan to Warsaw was re-routed to Vienna, the airline said, "in accordance with established safety protocols and procedures".

Another Wizz Air flight from Milan to Bucharest landed at its destination safely, "following which a crisis unit was set up at Henri Coanda Airport," the Romanian intelligence service said in a statement.

Aer Lingus

An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome was rerouted to France after a bomb threat. It was escorted by military aircraft to the Evreux air base west of Paris, French authorities said.

"The flight landed safely and Aer Lingus will work to reaccommodate customers to their final destination as soon as possible," the airline said in a statement.

Prague, Copenhagen flights

Four Prague-bound planes flown by Ryanair, Easy Jet and Sky Express were the target of threats.

"We perceive the credibility of the threats as low," said Czech police on X. "Nevertheless, we are not underestimating the situation, and all necessary security measures have been activated."

Prague Airport spokeswoman Denisa Hejtmankova told AFP the airport had received all the threats in emails from anonymous addresses. It was not immediately clear which airlines were involved.

Two planes, meanwhile, that arrived at Copenhagen were also the object of threats.

"Our assessment is that there is no danger, and there has never been any danger, to passengers or anyone else at the airport," Copenhagen police told AFP.

Who and Why

The origin and motives of the threats were unknown, but come amid a rise in hybrid attacks in Europe, sometimes linked by authorities to Russia or Iran.

France's secretary general for defense and national security, Nicolas Roche, highlighted to parliament last month "the massing of hybrid attacks in all their diversity - sabotage, cyber, drones, espionage of course -that we are seeing take shape in Europe."

Earlier threats

On Tuesday, 10 flights were targeted with bomb threats, all of which turned out to be hoaxes.

The alerts forced the closure of a Warsaw airport and the deployment of Italian air force jets to protect flights.

On Monday, a Wizz Air flight from London's Luton airport to Sofia was diverted due a bomb threat and forced to make an emergency stop in Budapest.