LONDON — A wave of bomb threats against passenger airliners caused chaos in the skies and airports of Europe on Thursday, the latest such incidents this week that have prompted emergency landings and security sweeps on runways.
No explosives have so far been found, and it is not clear who or what is behind the security threats made against at least 14 airliners. But the threats alone have caused disruption to Europe’s airspace and some of its busiest airports.
One of the first reports involved Aer Lingus flight EI402 from Dublin to Rome, which changed course near Paris and diverted to a French Air Force base, the airline said. There, all 151 passengers and six crew were evacuated from the plane while the bomb squad inspected the aircraft, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s office said in a statement.
Confirmed flights threatened Thursday
- Aer Lingus EI402 from Dublin to Rome — received bomb threat over France, made emergency landing at air base and inspected by bomb squad, according to airline and French officials.
- AY1761 Finnair from Helsinki to Rome Fiumicino — escorted into Rome by Italian Air Force jets, bomb-squad search found no explosives, airline said.
- AY1471 Finnair from Helsinki to Vienna — also received bomb threat, likewise no explosives found, according to airline.
- LO235 LOT Polish Airlines from Warsaw to Brussels — crew made midair checks after receiving threat, "additional screening" once in Brussels found no "suspicious items," airline said.
- LO331 Polish Airlines from Warsaw to Paris — "affected by a potential threat" but searches of passengers and luggage found nothing, Polish officials said.
- FR3606 Ryanair flight from Copenhagen to Sofia...
- ...and FR6410 Ryanair flight from Madrid to Sofia — both landed normally following bomb threat, no explosives found, according to Bulgarian transport ministry.
- FR1730 Ryanair flight from London Stansted to Sofia — also received a bomb threat and diverted to Plovdiv, the transport ministry said.
- WMT3064 Wizz Air from Milan to Bucharest — airport said it was notified of the bomb threat as flight was arriving, bomb squad found nothing.
- Czech police say four unidentified flights headed for Prague have also received threats.
From there, reports of threats in the skies over Europe arrived at dizzying pace, triggering searches by cabin crews and then again by airport security once on the ground.
Security operations were launched at airports in Prague, Copenhagen and Warsaw, with passengers at the last seeing the military and police sniffer dogs patrolling the tarmac.
A Finnair flight from Helsinki was escorted by Italian Air Force jets to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport “following anonymous reports of a suspected bomb threat,” according to a spokesperson for the city’s airport authority. Bomb disposal experts found nothing.
“Unfortunately, air traffic is sometimes subject to threats, as we have seen this week, when other airlines in Europe have also faced hoax bomb threats,” a Finnair spokesperson, Stiina Tuunanen, told NBC News in an email. “Threats are almost always unfounded.”
That was also the case for another Finnair flight from Helsinki to Vienna, whose threat was found to be baseless after landing safely in the Austrian capital.
LOT Polish Airlines said two of its aircraft from Warsaw were targeted, one flying to Brussels and the other to Paris.
Back on the ground in Warsaw, Polish resident Matthew Bojarsky, 28, was about to fly to Paris for a romantic trip with his American girlfriend, but saw police, military and sniffer dogs on the tarmac, he told NBC News. Passengers were told that “safety protocols” meant their flight, LOT LO331, had to be aborted and moved to a later time.
Elsewhere, three Ryanair flights were interrupted as they headed to the Bulgarian capital Sofia. Two flights, from Copenhagen and Milan, landed at their destination, while a third, from London, was diverted to the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv, the country’s transport ministry said in an email.
Ryanair did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In the Czech Republic, meanwhile, police said they had received threats about improvised explosive devices being place on four planes heading to the country’s capital Prague.
Thursday’s incidents follow days of airline bomb threats that have forced multiple flights to divert and an airport in Poland to briefly close. No explosive devices were found in the earlier incidents, according to authorities in various countries.
On Tuesday, a security operation was also launched at the Greek island port of Syros after a bomb threat to an Israel-bound cruise ship. Authorities said an unknown person claimed an explosive device had been attached to the hull of the Panama-flagged Crown Iris that was due to sail to Haifa.
Authorities have not indicated who could have been behind the incidents and there were no claims of responsibility.