A third wave of hoax bomb threats swept across European aviation on Friday, disrupting at least 18 flights in nine countries, forcing fighter jets into the air, diverting passenger aircraft and even emptying television newsrooms in Dublin. Every affected aircraft landed safely, and security searches found no explosives on any plane or at any media site.
The Guardian counted at least 18 flights hit by the Friday threats, with routes touching Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania and the United Kingdom. European air traffic authority Eurocontrol gave a provisional count of 14 flights for the day, while the European Union's transport commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, put Friday's total at 11 — a reminder that the figures are still being reconciled as reports come in from national authorities.
Prague was the hardest-hit hub of the day. At least nine flights to and from Václav Havel Airport were affected, including arrivals from Denmark, Spain and Britain and departures for the Netherlands, Cyprus, Romania, Italy and Britain. A Wizz Air jet bound for Rome was diverted to Venice, where passengers were evacuated after landing.
France reported four new bomb threats against aircraft flying over its territory, and all four planes landed safely at Paris Orly Airport for inspection. Two flights heading for Sofia were also disrupted, and a Lisbon-to-Rome service was among those caught up in the alerts.
Hungary scrambled military jets three times on Friday to escort civilian aircraft after threats were received. Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said the escorted flights included services from Brussels to Sofia and from Prague to Cyprus and Romania, all within the space of an hour.
The campaign spread beyond aviation on Friday. Irish broadcaster RTÉ evacuated its Dublin headquarters and ran pre-recorded programming for hours after a threat, and the Irish government said the threats seemed likely to be part of a coordinated campaign of disruption. A government official told Politico the threats were almost certainly linked to Ireland hosting the European Political Community summit in Dublin next week.
Friday was the third wave in four days. The disruption began on Monday, when a Wizz Air flight from London Luton to Sofia was diverted to Budapest. Eurocontrol recorded seven threatened flights on Tuesday, 14 on Thursday and a provisional 14 on Friday — 35 flights in three days — while The Guardian reported at least 25 threats on Thursday alone and at least 35 flights diverted or searched across the week. Ryanair was the hardest-hit airline by Thursday, with eight reported cases.
Friday's threats arrived by email signed by a "Mikhail Andropov", who claimed to lead the group behind the week's aviation hoaxes and warned that "this is only the beginning". The Russian extremist group Male State, named in some earlier threats to Italian airports, denied any involvement.
Spain's foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, described the threats as a possible attempt at "hybrid aggression", while the Irish taoiseach, Micheál Martin, said the episode showed how easily a society could be disrupted. Investigators have said they have found no evidence so far that a terrorist group or a state actor is directing the hoaxes, though inquiries are continuing.
The Financial Times reported that European security services suspect the threats originated in Russia, citing intelligence officials involved in an investigation spanning several countries — but no attribution has been proven, and for now the Russian lead remains a working hypothesis rather than a finding.
The disruption, while alarming, was a tiny fraction of European air traffic. Eurocontrol recorded 26,709 scheduled flights across Europe on Friday, meaning the affected flights made up roughly 0.07 per cent of the total, and the organisation said the alarms had no effect on delays across the network. Aviation experts note that hoax threats happen daily, but the sheer volume this week is unusual — and because safety rules require every threat to be treated seriously, each one forces checks, diversions and escorts that cascade into costs and delays for airlines, airports and passengers.
Investigations are now running across several countries as authorities try to establish who is sending the threats and whether the campaign will continue. With the European Political Community summit due in Dublin next week and airlines and airports on heightened alert, the open questions are whether the sender can be identified, whether more waves will follow, and how long Europe's aviation system will have to keep treating every anonymous email as a real emergency.
