Hoax Bomb Threats Keep Grounding Flights Across Europe; No Explosives Found

A fresh wave of bomb threats disrupted air traffic across Europe on Friday, but every affected aircraft landed safely and searches found no explosive devices. The Guardian counted at least 18 flights to or from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania and the UK. Al Jazeera put the figure at at least 17 by midday GMT.

Friday's alerts follow earlier threats this week and have raised questions about an apparently coordinated effort to cause chaos for travelers. For passengers, the main practical point is that the UK aviation regulator says compensation is unlikely, though airlines still owe basic care.

How the week of threats unfolded

• Monday: A flight from the UK to Bulgaria was diverted after a threat that turned out to have no substance, according to Al Jazeera.
• Tuesday: Seven planes across Europe were searched or diverted because of hoax bomb alerts, Al Jazeera reported.
• Thursday: Planes departing from 16 countries, including Ireland, the UK, Spain and Denmark, were affected. In Warsaw, a Polish Airlines flight to Paris was stopped on the runway and passengers got off. A Finnair plane was escorted into Rome by the Italian Air Force. Spanish authorities reported three emailed threats within 20 minutes. Searches found nothing.
• Friday: Hungary scrambled fighter jets three times to escort aircraft, its defense minister, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, said on Facebook. Prague airport said nine flights were affected. A WizzAir flight from Paris to Rome was diverted to Venice, and a Ryanair flight landed in Lisbon after a phone threat, according to Italian media cited by Al Jazeera.

The Guardian said the Tuesday and Thursday threats forced at least 35 flights to be diverted or searched.

Who may be behind the threats

Investigators have said there is no evidence that a hostile terror group or state actor, such as Russia or Iran, is orchestrating the hoaxes, but inquiries continue, the Guardian reported. Several media outlets in Bulgaria, Ireland and the UK reported that a group claiming responsibility emailed a warning of more attacks on transport. According to those reports, it said: “This is only the beginning.” The Guardian did not reproduce the email in full because its claims are unsubstantiated.

Some Thursday threats were signed “fighters of the Male State,” a reference to a Russian far-right movement founded in 2016. The group's founder, Vladislav Pozdniakov, denied involvement in a Telegram post on Friday and said the group had not existed since 2021.

Some officials suspect a link to European support for Ukraine. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said it was too early to name culprits but called the pattern no coincidence, and described the most reasonable assumption as hybrid aggression and psychological warfare. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said it was unclear whether the hoaxes and this week's cyberattacks on supermarket refrigeration systems were all connected. She said they showed civilian infrastructure is under attack. A senior NATO military official said the alliance was monitoring the situation.

London's Metropolitan Police chief, Mark Rowley, urged a measured response. He recalled the era of “10p terrorism,” when a hoax call from a phone box could disrupt a city, and said authorities must avoid overreacting to every online message.

Why it matters for travelers

The disruption is large in effect but small in scale. The Guardian said the affected flights were 0.0674% of the 26,709 flights Eurocontrol had scheduled in Europe on Friday. Even so, individual passengers faced diversions, searches and long waits. Aviation security expert Philip Baum told Al Jazeera that each disruption could cost an airline as much as $250,000. He said the coordinated scale is unusual, because most threats are quickly judged non-specific and planes do not divert.

The UK's Civil Aviation Authority said bomb hoaxes would likely count as an “extraordinary circumstance,” so compensation is unlikely, the Independent reported. Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said airlines still have a duty of care. He said passengers are entitled to food and drink, or a hotel stay depending on the length of the delay, and to a refund or rerouting at the earliest opportunity. He warned of longer delays if a destination airport closes temporarily while a threat is assessed.

When a threat arrives, assessors grade it as red (credible), amber (partially credible) or green (not credible), according to BALPA's Joji Waites. The plane is then moved well away from terminal buildings, passengers are screened, and police with sniffer dogs inspect it.

What is happening now

European security agencies are trying to identify those responsible, Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin said. He spoke after a separate spate of Friday threats against Irish media organizations disrupted broadcasts and led to evacuations. The International Air Transport Association has urged authorities to trace the origin of the hoaxes and said aviation security measures will keep passengers safe. No arrests were mentioned in the reports.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by Al Jazeera, The Independent, The Guardian