Europe's Bomb Threat Wave Spreads From Passenger Flights to Newsrooms

A series of bomb threats against passenger aircraft has grown into a wider disruption affecting flights and newsrooms across Europe. More than 40 flights had received threats since Monday, with no explosive devices found aboard, according to EL PAÍS.

The absence of bombs has not meant an absence of consequences. Passengers described landing at a military base, undergoing security checks and facing travel delays after hoax threats affected aircraft in Italy, Poland and Spain, The New York Times reported.

By November 5, the threats had already returned for a second wave that week, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. ANSA reported emailed threats, with at least seven alerts involving Italy.

The warnings prompted diversions and military responses. CBS News reported that some countries scrambled fighter jets as dozens of flights were diverted or grounded in recent days. At that stage, the European Union's transport commissioner said it was too early to conclude whether the incidents were linked, according to The Washington Post.

On November 6, a Ryanair flight from Rome to Lisbon was placed under a security alert following an anonymous call to the control tower in Rome, Euronews reported. The aircraft landed at Lisbon's Humberto Delgado airport, where authorities intervened, according to Adnkronos.

Further alerts followed that day. A Prague to Rome flight was diverted to Venice, ANSA reported, while the French government confirmed four new threats against flights passing over France, according to The Local.

The targets also widened beyond aviation. Irish media outlets evacuated staff on November 6, Euronews reported. Newsrooms in Ireland and Bulgaria received emailed threats from someone using the name "Mikhail Andropov", who claimed responsibility for the week's hoaxes, according to The Independent. That claim does not establish who sent the threats.

Ireland now considers the threats likely to be a coordinated campaign of disruption, according to France 24. That assessment goes further than the earlier caution about linking the incidents, but it does not identify a perpetrator. Euronews reported that officials still did not know who was behind them.

The reported flight totals cover different periods. The Japan Times put the number at nearly 30 by the end of Thursday, November 5, while EL PAÍS reported more than 40 since Monday in its November 6 coverage. NDTV reported that no suspicious items had been found and no one had been injured.

Investigators are still seeking the people responsible, according to Die Zeit. The central unresolved questions are whether the aviation and newsroom threats share an organiser, and whether claims of responsibility can be verified.

The timing adds urgency in Ireland. The Financial Times reported that the threats came a week before two major summits in Dublin expected to draw 50 European leaders.