Bomb hoaxes hit 14 European flights on third day

A wave of hoax bomb threats targeting European flights entered its third consecutive day on Thursday, after at least 14 civilian flights received fake alerts, according to France 24.

Among the most notable cases, French authorities diverted an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome after a bomb threat, with French military aircraft escorting it to a safe landing at the Evreux air base west of Paris; the airline said it would rebook passengers onto other flights, according to Euronews.

More than 20 threats in one week

Thursday's alert brings this week's total number of hoax reports to more than 20, mostly targeting low-cost airlines: Ryanair alone was targeted at least 7 times. On Tuesday, 10 flights were targeted in a single day, briefly closing a Warsaw airport and prompting Italian fighter jets to scramble and escort a plane over Rome, while Hungarian authorities diverted a Wizz Air flight from London to Budapest on Monday after a threat received mid-flight, according to Euronews.

In every case inspected this week, security teams found no real explosives, no group has claimed responsibility, and European authorities have not yet identified the source of the threats, according to Al Jazeera.

EU Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said threats against civilians are unacceptable, adding that it is still too early to establish a link between the various incidents recorded this week, according to Euronews.

Why is it hard to identify who is responsible?

The wave comes amid repeated accusations by European officials that Russia and Iran are behind "hybrid attacks" on the continent, which Moscow and Tehran deny. The threats coincided with unidentified hackers shutting down refrigeration systems at several major European retailers the same week, leading some experts to point to a similar pattern of low-cost, hard-to-trace disruption — a theory Al Jazeera describes as unconfirmed so far.

How did European countries respond?

In the Czech Republic, police said they consider the threats' credibility low but activated precautionary security measures; Prague Airport said the reports arrived by email from anonymous addresses. In Denmark, Copenhagen police said there was no danger to passengers or anyone else at the airport. In Bulgaria, the defence ministry said fighter jets escorted three Ryanair flights bound for Sofia, with one diverted to Plovdiv. In Romania, intelligence services set up a crisis unit at Bucharest's Henri Coanda International Airport after a threat targeting a Wizz Air flight, according to Euronews.