Edward Marchesi In recent days, a veritable storm of bomb scares has erupted in the skies of the continent, with at least twelve scheduled flights forced to change itineraries, undergo thorough checks, or make emergency landings. Airport authorities and the armed forces responded with rapid security operations , deploying escort jets and bomb disposal teams.
Interventions in Italy and France: escorted flights and emergency landings
A Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome was intercepted by Italian Air Force jets and landed at Fiumicino Airport around 9:30 a.m. without operational delays. Meanwhile, an Aer Lingus Airbus A320 departing from Dublin for Rome with 157 passengers on board received a bomb threat shortly before landing.
The aircraft made several circles over northern France and then took off for a runway at the Évreux-Fauville military base, where it was escorted by a Rafale fighter jet and bomb disposal teams stood by to look for any devices.
Details of the French intervention
Authorities in Evreux confirmed the presence of 151 passengers and six crew members on board the A320, all of whom were unharmed.
The Rafales provided constant air cover until the clearance teams completed their checks, which revealed no suspicious material.
Hijackings in Central and Eastern Europe: Vienna, Brussels and Beyond
A Wizz Air Airbus A321, taking off from Milan-Malpensa bound for Warsaw, received the same threat during the flight. The airline decided to divert the plane to Vienna , where it landed safely, while Austrian authorities activated checkpoint procedures.
A Boeing 737 Max operated by Polish airline LOT, flying from Warsaw to Brussels, landed in Zaventem without further action being taken after a “suspicious report” was investigated by Belgian police.
More flights involved in the wake of threats
Security forces also monitored four planes bound for Prague. Czech police described the threats as "low credibility," but nevertheless activated all required security measures , including bomb squad checks upon arrival. In Bulgaria, three flights (from Copenhagen, Madrid, and London) were forced to land in Sofia and Plovdiv, respectively, without any explosive devices being found on board.
The origins of the reports: a single anonymous email
Investigations conducted by the Postal Police revealed that the alarms on two flights bound for Rome (Finnair and Aer Lingus) originated from a single anonymous email , sent in Italian during the early hours of the morning to Fiumicino Terminal 3 and other airport operators. The message, signed by a group calling itself "fighters of the Male State," threatened explosions within 60 minutes on both flights.
Similar reports had already been received in the previous days: ten European flights, including four Ryanair ones, had been inspected or diverted after receiving similar warnings. Some of these incidents led to temporary airport closures and clean-up operations on SAS, LOT, and other airlines' aircraft.
Authorities in Rome, Paris, Brussels, Vienna, Prague and Sofia said that, despite the lack of concrete evidence , their prompt response demonstrated the need to maintain high aviation safety standards in the context of potentially unreliable but dangerous threats.