What is happening at Europe's airports? Bomb threats affect flights for several airlines

Several flights across Europe received alleged bomb threats on Tuesday that ultimately turned out to be false, but they triggered checks, diversions and, in one case, an Italian Air Force escort until landing, authorities reported.

Among the affected airlines were Poland's LOT, Scandinavian Airlines, Wizz Air, and Ryanair. There were no injuries.

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A day earlier, a plane bound for Bulgaria was diverted to Hungary after receiving a similar bomb threat while in the air.

Italy

A Ryanair flight arriving from Lisbon landed at Fiumicino Airport in Rome on Tuesday morning after an email was received stating there was a bomb on board, according to information provided by a Fiumicino official with knowledge of the events.

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Police bomb disposal experts conducted security checks on passengers, crew, and luggage and found no explosives.

Another email reported a bomb on a different Ryanair flight bound for Rome, arriving from Dublin.

The Italian Air Force escorted that plane to Fiumicino and the same security procedures were applied on the ground, with no explosives found, the official indicated. The individuals spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to provide information.

Poland

In Poland, meanwhile, a morning flight by the Polish airline LOT from London Heathrow Airport to Warsaw's main Chopin Airport was diverted to the Polish capital's Modlin Airport following a bomb threat, the PAP news agency reported. Modlin Airport was temporarily closed.

LOT later said that the search of the plane diverted to Modlin had been completed and that “nothing was found on the aircraft.” Passengers on the flight from London to Warsaw, the airline reported, were going through border control and, after completing it, would be taken to Chopin Airport by bus, PAP reported.

Later, Modlin Airport released a statement noting that there was no real threat and that the airport had resumed normal operations. It provided no further details on the nature of the threats.

Chopin Airport also received information about a potentially dangerous object on board a flight from Scandinavian Airlines, or SAS, from Copenhagen to Chopin Airport, PAP reported. The acting director of the Warsaw Airport Communications Office, Piotr Rudzki, explained to the agency that standard security procedures were immediately applied after the information was received and that one of the airport's runways was closed.

“People disembarked, the plane landed normally; it was not an emergency landing,” SAS spokesperson Alexandra Lindgren Kaokju stated to PAP.

She added that the airline is currently focusing on providing care for passengers and crew, and that the matter has been referred to the Polish police.

Spain

Spanish authorities ruled out the presence of explosives on Tuesday on a Ryanair plane arriving from Manchester that landed at Murcia Airport in southern Spain following a bomb threat.

Passengers and crew went through a security check and the aircraft was inspected, Francisco Lucas, the Spanish government delegate in the Murcia region, said on X. The flight had 121 people on board, including the crew, he specified.

Bulgaria

Bulgarian authorities found no signs of explosives on two aircraft at Sofia International Airport that had received bomb threats on Tuesday while they were in transit, Bulgaria's Transport Minister Georgi Peev said on Tuesday, according to the state news agency BTA.

The two planes, arriving from Bergamo, Italy, and Dublin, Ireland, were inspected by agents from the Specialized Counter-Terrorism Unit after landing in Sofia. Neither was diverted due to the bomb threats.

Peev said that the initial information about the existence of one of the bomb threats “was based on a pilot's report”.

“The pilot received information through his own channels—from the airline—that such a threat existed,” Peev said, adding that Bulgarian air traffic control then followed a protocol for these types of threats that allowed the aircraft to land safely in Sofia.

Hungary

The bomb threats came a day after a Wizz Air flight that took off from Luton Airport, near London, was forced to divert to Hungary following a bomb threat received while the plane was in the air.

Hungarian Defense Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said in a Facebook post on Monday that a Gripen fighter jet from the Hungarian Air Force was sent to intercept the Wizz Air flight and escorted it safely to Liszt Ferenc International Airport in Budapest.

Authorities found no threat on board the aircraft after conducting an inspection of the plane and its passengers, Wizz Air told the state news agency MTI.

On Tuesday, the acting secretary general of the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior, Lyubomir Nikolov, told reporters that authorities were still trying to identify the sender of the threat.

Last month, a flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna made an emergency landing in Bulgaria following a bomb threat.