Fighter jets escort EU flights during bomb threat scare
Air traffic controllers reported threats on multiple aircraft Friday, following a week of disruptions across the continent.
By Oliver Bennett ·
European air traffic faced another round of bomb threats on Friday. Officials confirmed new alerts for several flights after a string of hoaxes caused diversions earlier in the week. The activity suggests the disruption is spreading beyond just aviation.
No suspicious items were found, and no injuries were reported. The threats arrived during a period of other European disruptions, including attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems and drone incursions. Eurocontrol, the European air traffic authority, said the threats caused minimal disruption to the overall network.
The volume of threats has been rising steadily. Eurocontrol reported 14 threats against flights on Thursday and seven on Tuesday. Those 14 threats affected only 0.05% of the nearly 26,300 flights that operated across Europe on Thursday. More than two dozen flights were affected by threats earlier in the week.
Authorities responded quickly to the Friday alerts. In Hungary, defense minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said fighter jets escorted three passenger planes through the country's airspace. The escorts covered flights from Brussels to Sofia, and from Prague to Cyprus and Romania. France's prime minister's office said four aircraft flying over France received threats. Those planes landed safely at Paris' Orly Airport for inspection by bomb disposal experts.
Specific incidents included a WizzAir flight from Prague to Rome that diverted to Venice. Passengers evacuated the aircraft after it landed. A Ryanair flight from Lisbon to Rome and a Tarom flight from Prague to Bucharest also faced threats. At Prague's Václav Havel Airport, spokesperson Denisa Hejtmánková said nine flights were threatened. Czech police stated that security measures had a minimal impact on normal operations.
The threats also reached the ground. In Ireland, police evacuated the Dublin headquarters of national broadcaster RTE due to a bomb threat. Live broadcasts were replaced with prerecorded programs for a few hours. Police with sniffer dogs searched the building and declared it safe. U.K.-based broadcaster Sky said it received a security threat but remained on air.
It is not clear who is behind the threats. Authorities have not attributed them to any specific group or state actor. One email reviewed by The Associated Press purported to come from an anti-feminist group targeting a feminist regime. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin described the incidents as an attempt to undermine normal operations. He said a very significant security operation would be in place next week for European meetings in Dublin.
