Multiple flights in Europe diverted because of bomb threats after earlier hoaxes

PARIS -- Multiple flights in Europe made emergency landings on Thursday after being diverted because of bomb threats, authorities said. The incidents followed hoax bomb threats earlier this week that prompted searches, diversions and in one case a military escort.

More than a dozen flights from cities including Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki, Madrid, Milan and Warsaw were confirmed to have been targeted with bomb threats, most diverted to other airports for emergency landings while others landed safely at their destinations. So far inspections have not turned up hazardous or suspicious materials.

Such threats are not new, but the latest incidents come at a time of increased geopolitical tensions and other disruptions, like attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems, drone incursions in Europe and mysterious triggers to alert apps. Authorities have warned that hybrid threats abound.

Czech police said searches of another four planes that landed in Prague after being targeted by bomb threats were clear. They have not given details on where the flights originated.

Earlier, a flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to a military air base in western France because of a bomb threat, the French prime minister’s office said. The flight landed safely at the base in Evreux in Normandy, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s office said. All 151 passengers and six crew members were safe and military bomb disposal teams were examining the plane, the office said.

It added that it was following the situation in real time. No other information was immediately released.

Authorities report ‘abstract threats’ to several airports

A LOT Polish Airlines flight from Warsaw to Brussels landed at its destination, where inspections found no hazardous or suspicious items, the airline said. A Wizz Air flight from Milan to Bucharest landed safely in Bucharest following a bomb threat, airport spokesman Teo Postelnicu said.

A Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome landed safely at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport at around 9:30 a.m., escorted by Italian air force fighter jets, according to an airport official with knowledge of the situation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

An emailed bomb threat had been received, and security clearance procedures by police bomb disposal experts were completed, with no explosives found, the official said.

A flight to Warsaw landed in Vienna following a mail to Polish authorities containing an abstract threat, said Stefan Loidl, a police spokesperson in Lower Austria province. Nothing was found and the plane continued to Warsaw.

He said there was also an abstract threat to Vienna Airport concerning four other flights, which he declined to identify, but operations were not disrupted.

Polish authorities checked a LOT flight that was about to depart from Warsaw to Paris on Thursday morning after a threat was reported at Warsaw’s Chopin Airport, said airport spokesman Piotr Rudzki. No threat was ultimately identified. One runway at Chopin airport was temporarily closed while authorities carried out standard security procedures.

Three Ryanair flights bound for Sofia, Bulgaria, had to make emergency landings because of bomb threats on board. Two of the flights, one from Copenhagen, Denmark, and the other from Madrid, landed safely at Sofia’s Vasil Levski Airport, airport officials told reporters. The third Sofia-bound flight, from London’s Stansted Airport to Sofia, had been diverted and landed safely at the airport in Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-largest city, Plovdiv Airport CEO Krassimir Peshev said.

Hoaxes prompted similar searches earlier this week

Several flights across Europe received hoax bomb threats earlier this week that prompted searches, diversions and, in one case, an escort by the Italian air force until landing, officials said.

The flights included Polish airline LOT, Scandinavian Airlines, Wizz Air and Ryanair. The hoax threats came after a plane headed for Bulgaria was diverted to Hungary after receiving a similar bomb threat while in the air. No one was injured.