New Wave of Hoax Bomb Threats Disrupts European Flights
A second round of false bomb alerts across Europe forced emergency diversions, military escorts and widespread airfield sweeps.
- By Jesse Jacobs
- Nov 05, 2026
European aviation security and defense units responded to a fresh wave of false bomb threats targeting more than a dozen commercial passenger flights across the continent, AP News reported.
The disruptions follow a similar rash of hoaxes earlier this week that forced widespread ground sweeps. Flights originating from Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki, Madrid, Milan and Warsaw faced emergency diversions, runway lockdowns and military escorts. Search teams inspected aircraft across multiple hubs, finding no hazardous or explosive materials.
In France, an Aer Lingus flight traveling from Dublin to Rome was intercepted by a French fighter jet and diverted to an air base in Evreux. Military bomb-disposal personnel and canine units searched the aircraft while all 151 passengers and six crew members were evacuated, according to French officials cited by AP News.
Italian fighter jets escorted a Finnair flight from Helsinki into Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport following an email threat. Police units examined the jet and found no explosives. Finnair reported a second flight to Vienna was similarly targeted.
Emergency protocols were enacted across several other European jurisdictions:
- Bulgaria: Fighter jets escorted three Ryanair flights arriving from Copenhagen, Madrid and London into Sofia and Plovdiv for emergency inspections.
- Poland: Warsaw’s Chopin Airport briefly closed a runway to clear an outbound LOT Polish Airlines aircraft bound for Paris. A second LOT flight to Brussels was inspected upon arrival, with no threats detected.
- Czech Republic: Prague police searched four arriving aircraft targeted by threats, finding no suspicious items.
- Austria and Romania: Flights arriving in Vienna and Bucharest from Greece, Italy and Poland were screened by law enforcement and airport security without incident.
European transport officials activated an EU-level information-sharing mechanism as national aviation security agencies continue investigating the origin of the threats, the publication reported.