Hoax bomb threats hit 27 European flights, jets scrambled

Hoax bomb threats disrupted at least 27 passenger flights across Europe on Thursday, November 5, the second wave of threats this week. Some aircraft made unplanned landings and fighter jets escorted others. No explosives were found. UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander called them "malicious hoax threats". No country has said who is responsible.bbc.com+3

Diversions and fighter escorts

The most serious case was an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome. French fighter jets intercepted it and escorted it to the Evreux military base, about 100 kilometers west of Paris. The French prime minister's office said it ordered the interception "since the pilot did not cooperate as expected with authorities." Evreux prosecutor Remi Coutin told AFP the pilot had "allegedly refused" to land at the base and preferred a civilian airport. All 151 passengers and six crew members were safe. One passenger told the BBC that people stayed on board for two and a half hours while police and soldiers searched the plane with sniffer dogs.afp.com+2

Bulgarian jets escorted three Ryanair ↘ 0.88% flights flying to Bulgaria from Madrid, Copenhagen and London. The London flight was diverted to Plovdiv. Italian jets escorted a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome, and a Wizz Air flight from Milan to Warsaw was sent to Vienna. Spain's Guardia Civil said it received three emailed threats within 20 minutes. They involved Air Europa and Iberia flights, and passengers were taken off while the planes were checked. Czech police rated threats against four Prague-bound planes as low credibility.cbc.ca+1

The "Male State" emails

AFP saw threat emails sent to airports in Rome and Sofia. They contained misogynistic messages and claimed to come from "fighters of the Male State." One email warned that "the explosion will occur in 60 minutes. Today your skies will turn red." A far-right movement in Russia uses the name Male State, and Russian courts labeled it "extremist" in 2021. AFP could not confirm any link between that group and the emails. The BBC also said it was unclear whether the email was genuine.bbc.com+1

Too early to link

EU transport commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said it was "too early to draw conclusions on whether the reported incidents are linked." He added that the EU's system for sharing aviation security information had been switched on. Thursday's threats came after a Wizz Air flight was diverted to Budapest on Monday. On Tuesday, more threats briefly shut an airport near Warsaw. European officials have accused Russia of "hybrid attacks" elsewhere, but they have not blamed it for these threats.cnbc.com+2

Philip Baum, an aviation security expert at Coventry University, said this week's threats "seem to be coordinated to some extent." He said authorities were treating them as specific enough to require full landings and inspections.aljazeera.com