European aviation had one of its messiest days in recent memory after a string of bomb threats hit around 20 passenger flights in a single day — the third such wave in just four days. In the most serious cases, military jets were scrambled to escort airliners to unscheduled landings.
The day started early. An Aer Lingus Airbus A320 flying from Dublin to Rome (flight EI402) was diverted to Évreux, a French air base in Normandy, under a French military escort. The plane carried 151 passengers and six crew, landed safely, and was then searched for hours by explosives experts and sniffer dogs while passengers were questioned in small groups. Shortly afterwards, two Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons escorted a Finnair flight from Helsinki (AY1761) into Rome Fiumicino after an emailed threat; police bomb teams found nothing on board.
The disruption quickly spread across the continent. Ryanair bore the brunt, with flights from Madrid, Copenhagen, London and Porto affected — one London-Sofia service had to divert to Plovdiv. Wizz Air flights from Milan to Warsaw and Bucharest were hit, with the Warsaw service landing in Vienna. Finnair saw a second aircraft, a Jettime-operated flight from Helsinki, land safely in Vienna after a scare it described as an unfounded hoax. Iberia services from Milan and Rome to Madrid, an Air Europa Madrid-Paris flight, an Aegean flight from Thessaloniki to Milan, a LOT Warsaw-Brussels flight and an Air Serbia flight from Belgrade were all disrupted too, though several did not divert.
Not everything was documented in full. Four flights at Prague's Vaclav Havel Airport were affected by threats first reported mid-morning, and another aircraft at Madrid-Barajas was targeted in the early afternoon. It was the worst single day of the hoax campaign so far, and neither the source of the threats nor whether they will continue is clear.
For anyone flying in Europe right now, the practical reality is simple: keep an eye on your airline's notifications, expect delays and occasional diversions on affected routes, and know that a diversion to a military air base means a long wait while security teams work. Airlines say they are reaccommodating passengers as quickly as they can, but connections and onward plans can easily fall apart. Booking flights where a missed connection doesn't strand you overnight — and knowing your passenger rights around care and rebooking — is worth a few minutes of preparation until this wave passes.
Credit to Simple Flying for the original reporting.
