Seven passenger planes across Europe were inspected on Tuesday after a wave of suspected bomb threats — two of them flights that had departed from the United Kingdom — in what the British government called a series of “malicious hoax threats”. Every aircraft landed safely and no explosives were found in any of the searches completed, the BBC reported.
Source: BBC
Awaaz Punjab reported this morning how the first two alerts hit Warsaw-bound flights — a LOT jet from London Heathrow diverted to Warsaw-Modlin and an SAS flight from Copenhagen checked at Chopin. Through the day the wave grew to seven flights in four countries, and every alert has now been cleared. Read the earlier Warsaw report
Seven flights, four countries, one morning
The day began in Poland. A LOT Polish Airlines flight from London Heathrow to Warsaw, carrying 181 people, was diverted to the smaller Warsaw-Modlin airport after a bomb threat alert, briefly forcing Modlin to close before it reopened around midday; a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight from Copenhagen landed as planned at Warsaw-Chopin and was checked there. Flight-by-flight details were compiled by Aerospace Global News from airline and airport reports.
Source: Aerospace Global News
In Rome, two Ryanair flights — one from Dublin and one from Lisbon — were searched after landing at Fiumicino airport following anonymous tips, sources at the airport told the BBC. The Dublin flight was escorted by the Italian Air Force until landing. Police bomb-disposal experts carried out the standard security protocols, inspections of passengers, luggage and the aircraft yielded negative results, and the alert has since been cleared, the sources said.
In southern Spain, a Ryanair flight from Manchester landed in Murcia and was also found to have no explosives on board, Spanish authorities said. One passenger, Sarah, told BBC Radio 5 Live that travellers were told nothing during the flight: the plane stopped suddenly after landing, was kept on the runway for around 30 minutes, and was then surrounded by fire engines, police and a bomb squad before passengers were escorted off, leaving their belongings behind.
Bulgaria was the fourth country hit. Transport Minister Georgi Peev told the state-owned Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) that bomb threats had been made against two planes travelling to Sofia — one from Bergamo in northern Italy and one from Dublin. Neither flight was diverted and no explosives were found when the planes were checked, Peev said. Bulgaria's border police said it received an email at about 10:35 local time (08:35 GMT) reporting an improvised explosive device on the Bergamo flight, that the same email also reported a similar threat against the aircraft arriving from Dublin, and that an operational headquarters of several institutions was convened.
“Malicious hoax threats” — but was the wave co-ordinated?
The UK government said Britain had “one of the most robust aviation security systems in the world, with well-tested processes for dealing with any potential threats, as well as malicious hoax threats, like those we've seen today”. Aviation security expert Paul Mason told the BBC that bomb threats on passenger planes “don't happen that frequently”, which made the latest incidents “unusual”, and that the threats appeared to have been made “in a credible manner across a broad range of airlines” — suggesting, in his view, a deliberate act rather than coincidental malicious calls.
What is solid
- Seven flights in Poland, Spain, Italy and Bulgaria were searched on Tuesday after bomb threats, and no explosives were found on any of them.
- The UK government has officially described the incidents as “malicious hoax threats”.
- All seven aircraft landed safely; the only diversion was the LOT flight to Warsaw-Modlin, which later reopened.
What is only claimed
- Whether the wave was a co-ordinated attack designed to disrupt airspace: officials say there is officially no link between the incidents, while some aviation experts say the timing and method look deliberate. No authority has attributed the threats to any group or state.
Formally, officials are keeping the incidents separate. “While officially there is no link between them, authorities from various countries will be co-operating to assess whether this was a co-ordinated attack, designed to disrupt airspace,” the BBC reported. Former pilot Marco Chan, now a senior lecturer in aviation operations at Kingston University, explained that a bomb threat is treated as “genuine until it is resolved, even though most turn out to be hoaxes”: crews quietly search toilets, galleys and storage areas, and on the ground the aircraft is taken to an isolated stand where police and bomb-disposal teams search it.
The second day of threats to European flights
Tuesday's wave came a day after a Wizz Air flight from London Luton to Sofia made an emergency landing in Budapest, escorted by a Hungarian fighter jet, after a bomb threat on Monday. Wizz Air said security checks were made and nothing was found. Taken together, the two days have put European aviation security on alert during one of the busiest travel periods of the year, with thousands of passengers delayed while aircraft, luggage and runways were checked.
Monday's incident was reported by Awaaz Punjab when the Luton–Sofia flight diverted to Budapest under fighter escort. Read the Budapest diversion report
Police and aviation authorities in Poland, Spain, Italy and Bulgaria are investigating who sent the threats — several of them by email or anonymous tip — and whether the incidents were co-ordinated. No arrests had been announced in the reports available on Tuesday evening. Airlines and airports in all four countries had returned to normal operations after the searches.