Reported by The Guardian
Planes forced into emergency landings or diversions two days after hoax alerts affected air travel
Why have more than 30 European flights been hit by bomb threats this week?
Hoax bomb threats have disrupted at least 34 flights across Europe this week, with some forced to make emergency landings, as questions mount over an apparently coordinated effort to cause chaos for travellers.
More from the original report
At least 25 bomb threats affected flights on Thursday between Italy, Ireland, the UK, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Finland, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, France, Greece, Serbia and Czechia.
The threats affected flights by Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Wizz Air, Finnair, easyJet, Aegean Airlines, Iberia, Sky Express, Air Serbia and LOT Polish Airlines. All landed safely. Searches of the planes found nothing suspicious.
In the UK, Heathrow, London’s principal airport, and Birmingham airport received threats overnight, but it was determined that they were hoaxes with the help of specialist investigators from the Metropolitan police’s aviation police command.
The Met said threats had been made against four aircraft departing from or arriving at Heathrow. A police spokesperson added that, after an assessment, “no security issues [were] identified”.
The day of hoaxes followed similar threats on Tuesday, when seven planes across Europe were searched or diverted after malicious alerts. On Monday a flight from the UK to Bulgaria was diverted after a threat that was apparently without substance.
Investigators said on Thursday there remained no evidence that the hoaxes were being orchestrated by a hostile terror group or state actor, such as Russia or Iran, although inquiries across Europe into the incidents continue.
The global airlines body Iata condemned the disruption and urged authorities to identify the origin of the threats. “Safety is the number one priority for the industry and we take all threats seriously,” said Nick Careen, Iata’s senior vice-president for operations, safety and security, in a statement.
The EU transport commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, said it was too early to know if the incidents were linked but that any threats against civilians were unacceptable.
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