Reported by NPR World
Passengers arrive at the Henri Coanda International Airport pass under a Schengen Information sign, in Otopeni, near Bucharest, Romania, on March 31, 2024. Andreea Alexandru/AP hide caption
PRAGUE — Officials across Europe reported a fresh slew of bomb threats against multiple flights on Friday, following a string of hoaxes that have caused flight diversions this week. Three broadcasters also received security threats, in a possible sign the menace was spreading beyond the skies.
No suspicious items have been found and no one has been injured, but the threats have raised concern because they came on the heels of other European disruptions — including attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems and drone incursions.
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Overall, the threats have caused minimal disruption to aviation, according to the European air traffic authority. Eurocontrol said it was aware of bomb threats against 14 flights on Thursday — only 0.05% of all of the nearly 26,300 flights across the European network that day — and seven on Tuesday. The European Union's transportation commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, said there were 11 more on Friday.
Even so, airlines have to take every threat seriously because they are ultimately responsible for the lives of their passengers, said Robert Jordan, research director at Britain's Royal United Services Institute think tank.
Jordan told the BBC that there are more ways than ever to make threats against flights, and secure messaging apps have allowed for greater anonymity.
"The risk appetite for airlines is always going to be incredibly low," he said, noting the great strides that have been made in airport security in recent years. "It is baked into their safety procedures, and it's baked into their security procedures."
Tzitzikostas said after a meeting with Eurocontrol and the EU's Aviation Safety Agency in Brussels that security experts will meet in the Belgian capital next week to discuss measures needed to deal with the rash of bomb threats.
"Our priority here is clear. The safety of passengers and the smooth functioning of European aviation," he said.
In Hungary, the defense minister said fighter jets escorted three passenger planes Friday through the country's airspace within an…