Nearly 30 passenger flights across Europe were disrupted by a wave of hoax bomb threats on Thursday, forcing several aircraft to make emergency or unplanned landings while fighter jets were deployed to escort others.
The latest incidents marked a significant escalation from an earlier wave of threats on Tuesday, when at least seven flights and a cruise ship were targeted.
The threats affected flights travelling to and from major European cities, including Milan, Rome, Paris, Prague and Sofia. No government has identified those responsible, and no claim of responsibility has been verified.
Security experts said the incidents could have been carried out by individuals with personal grievances or copycat perpetrators, although the pattern also raised concerns about a possible coordinated “hybrid attack”.
Eric Schouten, head of aviation security group Dyami, said it was difficult to establish whether a particular country was behind such incidents, but added that the attacks appeared consistent with known hybrid warfare tactics.
Several European governments have previously accused Russia of orchestrating sabotage and other hybrid attacks since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Denmark, Poland and Romania, which were affected by Thursday’s disruptions, have also accused Moscow of involvement in previous incidents.
Germany previously blamed Russia for an August attack on Leipzig airport, while Britain has linked Iran to a suspected plot involving a United States air base. Both Moscow and Tehran have denied the accusations.
An airport source in Italy told Reuters that an email titled “Threat report” had been sent to several airline, airport operator and service provider addresses at Rome’s Fiumicino and Milan’s Malpensa airports.
The message, allegedly sent in the name of “fighters of the Male State”, claimed explosives had been placed on incoming flights from Helsinki and Dublin and would detonate within 60 minutes.
It also carried the chilling warning: “Today your sky will be red.”
However, Reuters was unable to independently establish who sent the email or whether the same party was responsible for the other threats.
Vladislav Pozdnyakov, a Russian blogger who founded the anti-feminist Male State movement in 2016 before it was banned in Russia, denied any involvement.
He said the group no longer existed and claimed anyone using its name to carry out provocations in European Union countries was acting independently.
In France, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s office said fighter jets had been deployed to intercept an Aer Lingus flight travelling from Dublin to Rome.
The aircraft was escorted to an air force base at Evreux after its pilot allegedly failed to cooperate with authorities as expected. Lecornu’s office did not explain the pilot’s behaviour.
Bulgaria’s air force also confirmed that fighter jets had escorted three passenger aircraft to the ground. A Ryanair flight travelling from London to Sofia was diverted to Plovdiv, the country’s second-largest city.
Meanwhile, Romania’s intelligence agency said a KLM flight heading to Tel Aviv, with a stopover in Bucharest, had received a bomb threat.
In Spain, police received three emailed threats within 20 minutes involving two Air Europa flights departing Madrid for Paris and four incoming Iberia services from Rome and Milan.
Several aircraft were stopped or returned to their stands in Madrid, while passengers were ordered to disembark as security inspections were carried out.
In Warsaw, a LOT flight bound for Paris was stopped while taxiing towards the runway, with passengers subsequently transferred to another aircraft. Danish police also searched two planes at Copenhagen airport.
Other airlines affected included EasyJet, Finnair, LOT, Wizz Air, Ryanair and Air Serbia, with services heading to Prague, Sofia, Vienna, Brussels, Bucharest, Rome and Milan among those targeted.
Some aircraft landed as scheduled, although several received military escorts.
Passengers described tense scenes after their aircraft landed. Elena Pala, who was travelling on a Wizz Air flight from Milan, said the plane was directed to a remote section of the runway in Bucharest.
She told Digi TV that the aircraft was surrounded by fire engines, ambulances and anti-terrorism units, while passengers were initially given little information about the situation.
Despite the disruptions, some travellers said they had no choice but to continue with their journeys.
Joji Waites, director of flight safety at the British Airline Pilots’ Association, said airlines would only act on threats after they had been assessed as credible.
The aviation incidents have also raised concerns about wider attacks targeting essential services across Europe.
Eliran Almog, chief executive of aviation cybersecurity firm Cyviation, said the bomb threats could be intended not only to disrupt airport operations but also to observe how airlines, airports and authorities respond to security emergencies.
He pointed to a series of cyberattacks that occurred around the same period, including incidents involving supermarket refrigeration systems in several European countries and French blood banks.
Unidentified hackers reportedly disrupted supermarket refrigeration systems for a second time this week, while several French blood banks were also affected by a cyberattack.
Almog warned that attacks against different essential services could carry significant economic costs while undermining public confidence in the institutions responsible for keeping daily life running.
