Europe on alert as fresh wave of bomb hoaxes disrupts flights

China

Europe on alert as fresh wave of bomb hoaxes disrupts flights

2026-11-07 14:00 Last Updated At：17:13

A fresh wave of bomb threats targeting commercial flights disrupted air travel across Europe on Friday, prompting security checks at airports in several countries.

Nine flights arriving at or departing from Prague Airport were targeted on Friday, including four inbound and five outbound flights, the Czech News Agency reported. Police inspections found no explosives, and airport operations continued without significant disruption.

The incident came a day after four aircraft heading to Prague received similar threats. Czech authorities have launched an investigation into the incidents and their possible links to similar threats elsewhere in Europe.

In Italy, the control tower at Rome's Fiumicino Airport received an anonymous call on Friday saying there was an explosive device on a passenger plane flying from Prague to Rome, according to Italy's ANSA news agency. The flight was then diverted to land in Venice, and police were carrying out security checks on the aircraft.

In France, four aircraft flying over French territory were targeted, with three landing at Paris-Orly Airport and one at Bordeaux. All four landed without incident and were undergoing security inspections by bomb disposal teams, the French prime minister's office said, adding that an investigation was underway to determine the source of the alerts.

Portuguese police said on Friday that they received a bomb threat that day against a Ryanair flight from Lisbon to Rome, Italy. No explosive device was found after a security search.

The latest incidents follow a series of threats reported on Tuesday and Thursday, with more than 20 flights affected on Thursday alone.

The flights that received threats on Thursday involved countries including Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Finland, and airlines including Ryanair, Wizz Air, LOT Polish Airlines and Aer Lingus. Some airports and airlines received the threats by email, while some flights received security alerts in the air.

On Tuesday, Poland, Spain, Bulgaria and Italy reported in turn that passenger planes had received bomb threats. Seven planes were involved, causing some flights to be diverted and an airport to be briefly closed.

European aviation withstands unprecedented wave of fake bomb threats: expert

An extraordinary wave of fake bomb threats targeting European aviation this week is unprecedented in recent years, but the continent's transport system has avoided a systemic collapse, according to Serbian aviation analyst Petar Vojinovic.

European aviation faced multiple rounds of bomb threats this week, affecting flights across several countries and prompting some aircraft to divert or land under military jet escort. All affected flights were searched and no explosives were found, with the threats ultimately confirmed to be false alerts.

The latest wave came on Friday, following a series of threats reported on Tuesday and Thursday, with more than 20 flights affected on Thursday alone.

Speaking to China Media Group (CMG), Vojinovic noted that no evidence currently links the wave of false reports to any specific group, calling the sudden surge unprecedented.

"As far as I know, [this] hasn't been happening like for years earlier because such a concentrated level of reports, fake reports, because they didn't actually find anything, is really extraordinary. It still wasn't connected particularly to any organization," he said.

Vojinovic explained that upon receiving a bomb threat, airlines must follow established security protocols to implement response measures. They cannot independently judge the authenticity of a threat, nor can they lower their vigilance level simply because it might be a false alarm.

Consequently, even though all such threats have turned out to be fake, the mandatory handling procedures still cause flight delays, disrupt airport operations, increase security screening costs, and lead to issues regarding passenger accommodation and compensation, he noted.

"So that creates a delay of several hours. When an airline operates a single aircraft, that aircraft is used on several routes on that day. So the ones that had to be diverted, they had to be checked. They are not available for the next flight. And all of that is still being done because that's the only way that you can check and that you can double check and that you can clear that everything is safe," Vojinovic said.