At least 18 commercial flights across Europe received bomb threats on Thursday, forcing some planes to divert or make emergency landings and undergo security checks.
The flights involved several airlines, including Ryanair, Wizz Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Finnair, Jettime, KLM and Aer Lingus.
In France, an Aer Lingus Airbus A320 flying from Dublin to Rome with 151 passengers and six crew was diverted to an air base in Evreux, Normandy. It landed safely and was checked by a French military bomb disposal team.
In Italy, a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome was escorted by Italian Air Force fighter jets to Fiumicino airport, which suspended flight operations for about 30 minutes. The plane landed safely and was inspected. Two flights heading to Milan Malpensa, from Thessaloniki in Greece and Porto in Portugal, also received threats but landed as scheduled.
Bulgaria’s air force scrambled MiG-29 fighter jets after three Ryanair flights bound for Sofia were threatened, while police in the Czech Republic said four flights heading to Prague were targeted, although they judged those threats to be less credible. Similar threats were reported in Austria, Romania, Belgium, Poland and Denmark.
A threatening email sent to Fiumicino airport claimed that explosives had been placed on two flights bound for Rome. It was signed by a group calling itself the “Fighters of the Male State”, and a report on the email will be submitted to prosecutors.
Romania’s intelligence service said two more bomb threats targeted Henri Coanda International Airport in Bucharest, following similar incidents earlier in the day.