More than a dozen flights in Europe receive bomb threats that an
official calls 'malicious' hoaxes
[November 06, 2026]
By COLLEEN BARRY, ANGELA CHARLTON and DAVID BILLER
MILAN (AP) — Bomb threats targeted more than a dozen flights in Europe
on Thursday, leading to a slew of emergency landings and military
escorts in some cases, authorities said. No hazardous or suspicious
materials have been found in what a British official called “malicious"
hoaxes.
Several similar threats targeted planes earlier this week, prompting
searches and diversions, with at least 25 flights targeted, officials
said. Europe has experienced a slew of other disruptions recently, such
as attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems, drone incursions and
mysterious triggers to alert apps.
While fake bomb threats are relatively common, it is unusual to see so
many in a single day. They come at a time of increased geopolitical
tensions and warnings from authorities that Russia may be ramping up
so-called hybrid threats in Europe.
It wasn't known whether this week's threats were linked, who sent them
or what they hoped to achieve.
An email containing the threat to Rome-bound planes was sent on behalf
of a group that described itself as anti-feminist, according to a copy
provided by an airport official and reviewed by The Associated Press. An
official from another European airport said the threat they received
also came from a group calling itself anti-feminist, and used some of
the same language. It wasn't clear if the same group sent the two
threats. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they
weren’t authorized to share the information.
Travelers weren't too frightened
At Rome's airport, travelers whose flights weren't affected seemed to
take the threats in stride.
“As of now, I am not scared of being in an airport or getting on board a
plane," said Alessia Strada, a 19-year-old Italian returning from Kenya.
"Probably this idea I have about traveling in Europe will change in the
near future, but let’s see how it goes.”
Alex Langenkamper, a 38-year-old German headed to Munich, said “crazy
people” exist and will in the future.
Meanwhile, Michael Romano, a 54-year-old traveler headed to Colombia,
expressed concern about the world moving toward war.
“These things never used to happen here in Europe,” he said. "This is
all new, so it is a little bit scary.”
‘Stress-testing’ governments and driving up costs
Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank in
Brussels, said the threats were “stress-testing” how European
governments and airport officials respond, and whether their responses
were coordinated.
The idea behind the threats “appears to be to sow chaos, uncertainty,
about the reliability of air traffic across Europe” and could have
“cascading effects” — like economic damage and costs related to
inspection, investigation and cleaning aircraft.
Joji Waites, who heads flight safety at the British Airline Pilots’
Association, said the industry has put in place “proved mechanisms” for
dealing with such threats, including a team of assessors to grade the
level of threat in a red-amber-green color-coding system, quick
notification of flight crews, and the evacuation of planes on the
ground.
Each flight disruption could cost airlines as much as $250,000, on a par
with the possible costs of dealing with an unruly passenger, said Philip
Baum, a visiting professor of aviation security at Coventry University
in England.
“And that’s because you might end up with the crew going out of hours.
You might need replacement crew. You have got passengers that miss their
flight connections," Baum said. "It knocks everything out of sync for
the rest of the day for the airline in question.”
Military escorts cost money, too, which would be borne by governments
rather than airlines, he added.
Officials decry the hoaxes
Britain's transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, told British
broadcasters that flights across Europe have been hit by “malicious hoax
threats.”
European Union Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas told
reporters in Dublin that it was “too early to draw conclusions on
whether the reported incidents are linked.”
“National investigations remain ongoing,” he said, adding that an EU
information-sharing mechanism on aviation security had been activated.
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A man looks at flight arrival board at Sofia's Vasil Levski Airport
in Bulgaria, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, as three Ryanair flights bound
for Sofia, Bulgaria, had to make emergency landings because of bomb
threats on board. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
French air base goes on high alert
An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to a military
air base in France after receiving a threat, French Prime Minister
Sébastien Lecornu’s office said. The flight landed safely at the
base in Evreux, which was under high alert, and military bomb
disposal teams were examining the plane, the office said.
Lecornu ordered warplanes to intercept the plane because the pilot
“didn’t cooperate as expected with the authorities,” his office
said. It declined to comment further.
Hours after the flight landed, the plane was sitting on the tarmac
with a Red Cross vehicle nearby while explosive experts with dogs
examined it.
An investigation was opened by French aviation security authorities.
The regional prosecutor, Remi Coutin, said in a statement that the
pilot and co-pilot were questioned about what happened.
Aer Lingus later said its pilots fully cooperated with the French
authorities and “the engagement of the pilots with the authorities
has now concluded.”
Italian and Croatian air force jets escort a Finnair flight
Italian air force fighter jets escorted a Finnair flight that
departed Helsinki bound for Rome after a threat was received by
email, the air force said in a statement. Croatia's defense ministry
said one of its fighter planes first intercepted the commercial jet
in Croatian airspace before handing it off to the Italians.
Finnair said that two of its flights, including the one that
received the military escort and landed safely in Rome, “faced
unfounded hoax bomb scares.” The other flight, operated by Jettime
from Helsinki to Vienna, landed safely at its destination, and was
expected to return to service after an inspection, Finnair said.
Three Ryanair flights bound for Sofia, Bulgaria, meanwhile, also
received military escorts and made emergency landings after bomb
threats, officials said. Two of the flights — one from Copenhagen,
Denmark, and the other from Madrid — landed safely in Sofia, airport
officials said. The third, from London, was diverted and landed
safely in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's Plovdiv Airport, CEO Krassimir Peshev
said.
Hoaxes prompted similar searches earlier this week
Several flights across Europe received bomb threats earlier this
week, officials said.
The flights included ones operated by Polish airline LOT,
Scandinavian Airlines, Wizz Air and Ryanair. The hoax threats came
after a plane headed for Bulgaria was diverted to Hungary upon
receiving a similar bomb threat while in the air. No one was
injured.
A slew of other flights were disrupted Thursday. Among those
incidents:
— Czech police said searches of four planes that landed in Prague
after being targeted by bomb threats turned up nothing. They haven't
given details on where the flights originated, and said they took
precautions despite not finding the threats credible.
— 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 the
Romanian capital following a bomb threat, airport spokesman Teo
Postelnicu said. Checks turned up no bomb.
— A flight to Warsaw landed in Vienna after Polish authorities
received a threatening email, said Stefan Loidl, a police
spokesperson in the 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 weren't disrupted.
——-
Charlton reported from Paris and Biller from Rome. Associated Press
writers throughout Europe contributed.
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