Bomb threats hit multiple flights in Europe for a second time in a week

• Bomb threats forced the diversion of more than a dozen flights across Europe on Thursday, the latest in a string of incidents disrupting airspace. Several authorities have said no devices have been found.

• Four of the flight diversions were in the Czech Republic. The bomb threats were made in an anonymous email and other airports received the email too, a representative of the Václav Havel Airport in Prague told CNN .

• A company linked to Rome’s airport received an email from a group purporting to be anti-feminist and calling itself the Male State that claimed there were bombs on two flights. But it is unconfirmed who was behind the wave of threats and the EU says it is too early to say they are linked.

Passengers at Rome Fiumicino airport said they would go ahead with their travels on Thursday, after bomb threats that turned out to be false impacted two flights bound for the Italian capital.

One affected flight from Dublin was diverted to Normandy in France, whilst the other, from Helsinki, was escorted safely into Rome airport by Italian air force fighter jets.

The airport operator ADR conducted searches and said there was no threat, according to Reuters.

Watch the video to hear how passengers are reacting.

While it remains unclear who is responsible for the spate of bomb threats across Europe this week, one aviation expert said he is looking closely at Russia.

“From a geopolitical view, I’m thinking, you always have to think about the scenario of hybrid warfare, where a country in this way — today we are looking at Russia, right? — is attacking us on multiple fronts, from railways to supermarkets to blood banks, most recently,” Eric Schouten, head of the aviation security ⁠group Dyami, told Reuters.

“The energy sector, the internet sector, and the aviation sector are among those,” he added.

Russia has recently been accused by Denmark, Poland and Romania of causing disruption through hybrid attacks - hostile action that targets and destabilizes an adversary through a blend of non-military tactics and cyber assaults on essential infrastructure.

The unconventional mixture of techniques used in such an attack makes it difficult to trace back to a single actor, he said.

Denmark, Poland and Romania are also among the nations impacted by Thursday’s disruptions, and Schouten pointed out that those affected have supported Ukraine during Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Earlier Thursday, CNN affiliate SKYTG24 published an email from an anti-feminist group calling itself “The Male State” which appeared to reveal the origin of a false bomb threat claims made regarding two flights bound for an airport in Rome.

The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, a Netherlands-based think tank, said “The Male State” was created in Russia in 2016.

“It transition from being one of the most notorious misogynist movements in Russia to one of the main online supporters and promoters of the war in Ukraine,” the report said .

Russia has denied engaging in hybrid warfare.

Passengers and crew on at least 14 planes have been impacted by bomb threats in Europe today, with multiple flights rerouted and some having to be escorted by fighter jets.

All the threats have so far proven false, and there’s no clear indication who’s behind them, but they are causing considerable disruption.

Here’s a running CNN tally of flights affected, based on information from airlines and regional officials:

France: One flight handled by the Irish carrier, Aer Lingus, landed in Normandy, northern France after leaving Dublin for Rome, Italy.

Italy: Two flights en route from Thessaloniki, northern Greece and Porto, northern Portugal landed safely in Milan where checks found no explosives. One flight from Helsinki was escorted by Italian air force jets and safely landed in Rome.

Bulgaria: Two flights – each traveling from Madrid in Spain and Copenhagen in Denmark – were diverted to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. Another plane that set off from London, in the UK, was diverted to Plovdiv, just southeast of Sofia.

Czech Republic: Four flights landed in Václav Havel Airport in the capital, Prague.

Belgium: One flight handled by LOT Polish Airlines departed from Warsaw, according to Reuters, before being diverted to Brussels, in Belgium, local media said.

Romania: One Wizz Air flight departing from Rome landed in the Romanian capital, Bucharest.

Austria: Another Wizz Air flight from Milan landed in Vienna, Austria.

Matthew Bojarsky’s LOT Polish Airlines flight from Warsaw to Paris was taxiing to the runway when the pilot announced it had been cancelled for safety reasons.

Passengers were told the plane would wait at the end of the runway for “some officers,” he told CNN, after posting a video on X that shows men in military fatigues outside the plane.

Eventually the flight, one of more than a dozen to face bomb threats on Thursday, was continued on a different plane.

“We were moved into a hall, then waited for four hours,” Bojarsky said. “We got the information from the news, the pilot said it was ‘safety protocol’.”

Officials at the Madrid-Barajas Airport in Spain’s capital received a “bomb threat” naming three flights on Thursday, airport operator AENA said.

Law enforcement teams carried out an assessment “and the relevant security checks” and found nothing on board, a spokesperson for AENA told CNN.

An anti-feminist group calling itself “The Male State” emailed bomb threats to a logistics company working with Rome Fiumicino Airport on Thursday naming two flights bound for the Italian capital.

The email, first published by CNN Affiliate SkyTG24, made the false claim that “explosive devices” had been placed on two flights – one from Helsinki and another from Dublin. A spokesperson for the airport confirmed to CNN the screenshot was authentic.

“You’re all complicit in a criminal plot, we want to annihilate you for this,” the memo read in Italian. “We, the fighters of the Male State, with our actions will leave a mark on history. Your feminist regime will never forget it.”

Earlier on Thursday , Italian air force fighter jets escorted the Finnair flight from Helsinki safely into Rome airport. A second flight from Dublin to Rome, operated by the Irish airline, Aer Lingus, was diverted to Normandy, northern France.

The email went to Aviapartner, a Belgium-based logistics company providing luggage services to the Rome airport.

The email alias appeared to be linked to the municipality of the Colombian capital Bogotá, whose mayor Luis Fernando Galan told CNN his team was working to establish what happened.

“It could be the account was hacked, we’ve had several of them before,” Galan told CNN.

The EU transport commissioner said it is “too early” to determine whether the bomb threats that caused several flights to be diverted and others escorted to their scheduled destination across Europe this week are connected.

“It is too early to draw conclusions on whether the reported incidents are linked,” Apostolos Tzitzikostas said in a statement released Thursday, “National investigations remain ongoing.”

The commissioner said that the situation is being closely monitored, and that the department is “in contact with the affected member states and the European Aviation Safety Agency.”

“The EU-level information sharing mechanism has been activated related to aviation security,” it added.

The commissioner said any threat against civilians is “unacceptable,” and said all relevant bodies have been liaising to ensure aviation safety and security is not compromised.

While no explosive devices have yet been found following bomb threats, the motivation behind the reports remains unclear.

The UK’s transport minister says the bomb threats that have caused several flights to be diverted and others escorted to their destinations are a “malicious hoax.”

Speaking to British media, Heidi Alexander said that the disrupted flights had triggered “established processes for dealing with hoax and malicious threats, and that’s what these threats have been.”

While the minister insisted that the British government is taking the threats seriously, she added “we understand these have been malicious hoax threats.”

At least 14 flights have been impacted by the threats Thursday. No explosives have yet been found.

Bulgaria’s transport authorities are the latest to confirm that their inspections found no issues on any of the three aircraft that were the subject of this morning’s bomb threats.

Two Ryanair flights to Sofia from Madrid and Copenhagen respectively landed safely at their destination after the bomb threats.

Another Ryanair flight from London was diverted to Plovdiv, southeast of the capital, following a threat.

“Upon landing, the necessary inspections were carried out in accordance with the applicable procedures and no issues were identified,” a spokesperson for Bulgaria’s transport ministry told CNN Thursday.

Both airports are operating as normal and the airline arranged transportation to Sofia from Plovdiv for diverted passengers.

A representative of the Václav Havel Airport in Prague told CNN the threats it received about bombs being placed on four flights were made in an anonymous email.

A Czech Police spokesperson told CNN the email was addressed to the airport, adding that similar emails were sent to other airports in Europe.

The Prague airport immediately contacted emergency services and convened a meeting of its crisis committee.

Neither the airport representative nor the police said which language the email was written in.

In another incident, almost 200 passengers were evacuated from a Wizz Air flight after it landed safely in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday morning local time following a bomb threat, bringing the total to at least 14.

Romania’s intelligence agency said the aircraft, which departed from Milan, has been checked and no explosives found, Reuters reported.

Two planes from European cities were diverted to Malpensa Airport in Milan, in Italy on Thursday following bomb threats, according to airport officials.

Italian border police were carrying out “bomb checks” on both planes, the airport said in a statement. One Aegean Airlines flight had set off from Thessaloniki, northern Greece, while the other was a Ryanair flight from the city of Porto, northern Portugal.

The Czech National Center against Terrorism, Extremism and Cybercrime, a specialized unit of the Czech Police, is taking over the investigation into the threats made against four airplanes headed to Prague.

Czech authorities are in contact with their international partners, Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar said on X.

A plane rerouted a flight from Dublin to Rome following a bomb threat is now at the Evreux air base in Normandy.

The plane “landed safely,” according to the Irish carrier, Aer Lingus.

About 151 passengers and six crew members were “being moved to safety” following the “bomb threat,” the French prime minister’s office said.

There’s no word yet whether there was a bomb on board but other national authorities say the threats they received were hoaxes.

Much is unknown about the latest threats to flights - no one claimed responsibility for the alerts earlier this week and no one has claimed Thursday’s threats either.

But, coming off the back of hackers targeting supermarket fridges, experts say such attacks could serve multiple purposes, from causing disruption to testing authorities’ response.

“These aviation threats are also occurring in the same period as cyberattacks on supermarket refrigeration systems across Europe,” said Eliran Almog, CEO of aviation cybersecurity firm Cyviation.

At least seven flights and one cruise ship received bomb threats across Europe on Tuesday, triggering disruption at airports and causing concern among travelers.

Yet no explosive devices were discovered.

The threat named two flights to the Polish capital Warsaw, two to the Bulgarian capital Sofia, two to the Italian capital Rome and one to the Spanish city of Murcia.

An airport in Warsaw was temporarily closed, the Italian Air Force escorted one flight to Rome, and a cruise ship bound for Israel was halted in Greece while it was searched for bombs.

A Wizz Air-operated flight from Bergamo, Italy, and a Ryanair flight from Dublin both landed safely at their destination of Sofia, where they were inspected and no explosive devices were found.

Meanwhile, in southeastern Spain, segments of the airport in Murcia were cordoned off in response to a bomb threat reported on a Ryanair flight inbound from Manchester, England. After investigation, officials deemed the report a hoax and re-opened the airport.

In Rome, two other Ryanair flights, from Lisbon and Dublin respectively, were also searched following bomb threats - no risk was located on either aircraft.

And in Greece, an explosives detection dog scoured the Panama-flagged Crown Iris cruise ship after an unidentified person reported that an explosive device had been fitted to the boat’s hull, Reuters cited authorities as saying. The vessel resumed its voyage after coast guard specialists reported it free of risk.

None of Tuesday’s bomb threats have been claimed by any group, nor has any country suggested where blame might lie.

We’ve just had an update from authorities in the Czech Republic and Italy that no explosives have been found after alerts caused flight diversions.

“The operation at the airport is over, there were no bombs and everyone is safe,” Czech Police said.

Rome Airport also confirmed the operation there is over, with no bombs discovered.

Four aircraft are rerouting to Prague in the Czech Republic after authorities were alerted to a threat over “improvised explosive devices,” national police reported on Thursday.

The Czech Police are liaising with colleagues at the capital’s Václav Havel Airport to “prepare for their landing,” according to a police statement. Officials assess the threat of the bomb being real as “low,” the police statement said, adding that “inspections will be conducted on all aircraft.”

“Nevertheless, we do not underestimate the threat, which is why all necessary security measures have been activated while minimising the possible impact on passengers and airport operations,” the police statement said.

The Air Navigation Services of the Czech Republic said it is “handling the current situation based upon the requirements of the crews and in accordance with regulations.”

The Prague airport is the main airport in the Czech Republic and handled 17.8 million passengers last year.

Bomb threats forced the diversion of a series of flights across Europe on Thursday for a second time this week.

Aer Lingus said a flight from Dublin to Rome diverted to Normandy in France as a security precaution.

A Finnair flight from Helsinki was escorted by two Italian air force fighter jets to Rome Fiumicino Airport after a bomb threat on Thursday morning, a spokesperson for the airport told CNN. Bomb checks are still being performed and are being carried out by Italian police.

Bulgarian media reported emergency landings of three aircraft following bomb threats. Two of the aircraft departed from Copenhagen and Madrid, landing safely in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, Reuters reported, citing local media. A third aircraft, flying from London, landed in Plovdiv in Bulgaria, the reports said.

Reuters also reported that Polish airline LOT had received a suspicious report regarding one of its planes which had departed from Warsaw. It has since landed safely in Brussels, Belgian media reported.

We’ll bring you the latest on this as we get it.