Election 2026LiveSenate54 Dem · 44 Rep · 2 to callHouse253 Dem · 157 Rep · 25 to callGovernors28 Dem · 20 Rep · 2 to callUpdated 23:36 ET · AP race calls
ABRAnews Three sides to every story.
World

Bomb threats hit more than a dozen flights in Europe, forcing emergency landings

No explosives were found, Britain's transport secretary calls them malicious hoaxes, and the EU says it is too early to say if they are linked.

9 news outlets reported this
Liberal5 outletsHoax threats raise fears of hybrid warCenter2 outletsA fresh round of hoax threats, origin unclearConservative2 outletsDiversions across Europe, no bombs, likely hoax
Published 4 min readMoney and daily life
Overview

Hoax bomb threats hit more than a dozen flights across Europe on Thursday, Nov. 5, according to AP, and the Guardian counts at least 25 disrupted flights. Some planes made emergency landings or got military escorts. No explosives or hazardous materials were found.

Britain's transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, called them "malicious hoax threats." An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome landed safely at a French air base in Evreux. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's office said he ordered warplanes to intercept it because the pilot "didn't cooperate as expected."

Italian fighter jets escorted a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome. Three Ryanair flights bound for Sofia also received military escorts, and one of them landed in Plovdiv instead. Czech police said searches of four planes in Prague turned up nothing.

Emails sent to Rome and Sofia airports were signed "fighters of the Male State," according to sources at Aeroporti di Roma and a text seen by Agence France-Presse. Similar threats hit flights on Monday and Tuesday, including seven planes searched or diverted on Tuesday. Who sent the threats is not known.

EU Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said it was too early to say whether the incidents are linked, and that national investigations continue.

Key figures
  • more than a dozen flights in Europe targeted by bomb threats on Thursday, per AP — ABC News
  • at least 25 flights disrupted across Europe on Thursday, by the Guardian's count — The Guardian (US)
  • at least 33 flights affected in total over the days of threats, by the Guardian's count — The Guardian (US)
  • 27,400 flights scheduled in Europe on Thursday, per Eurocontrol — The Guardian (US)
  • as much as $250,000 possible cost to airlines of each disruption, per aviation security professor Philip Baum — ABC News

Three sides of the story

Liberal5 outlets

Hoax threats raise fears of hybrid war

ABC News carries an Associated Press report that opens with threats against "more than a dozen flights" and a British official's description of them as "malicious" hoaxes. It quotes Jacob Funk Kirkegaard of the Bruegel think tank, who says the threats are "stress-testing" European responses, and aviation security professor Philip Baum on the cost to airlines.

The Guardian's headline counts at least 25 disrupted flights and cites "hybrid war fears." It quotes Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto calling the pattern "under-threshold warfare," and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejecting blame on Putin's administration for the supermarket fridge hacks. It reports that investigators see no evidence of a hostile terror group or state actor, and describes Male State as a Russian far-right movement whose founder did not comment.

CBS News reports dozens of planes targeted, with some countries scrambling fighter jets in what has so far been a hoax. Al Jazeera English reports at least 27 flights targeted, with emergency landings and evacuations.

Center2 outlets

A fresh round of hoax threats, origin unclear

BBC News leads with at least 21 aircraft and several airports hit by bomb threats, which the UK's transport secretary describes as "malicious hoax threats." It recalls a mid-air threat on Monday to a Wizz Air flight from London Luton to Sofia and says seven flights were searched two days earlier. It reports that Aeroporti di Roma confirmed to the BBC that the emails were signed "Fighters of the Male State," and says the name likely refers to a Russian ultra-right group banned by a Moscow court in 2021.

It quotes aviation expert Marco Chan, who calls the threats "most likely a hoax, but the system is right to treat it as real." A separate BBC Verify piece analyses messages on how one threat was passed on by air traffic control. Deutsche Welle's subheading reads "No initial signs of a genuine threat."

It quotes EU Transport Commissioner Tzitzikostas that it is "too early" to say if cases are linked, cites Czech police rating the threats' relevance as low, and notes the incidents coincided with apparent cyberattacks on supermarket freezers and French blood banks.

Conservative2 outlets

Diversions across Europe, no bombs, likely hoax

RedState's headline says multiple Europe flights were diverted amid a wave of bomb threats. It builds its report on a social media post from Israel War Room listing at least seven flights, then adds AP quotes from Heidi Alexander and Tzitzikostas. RedState says that at first glance the flights show no obvious connection in origins, destinations or airlines, and that the "random hoax angle" seems more likely for the moment.

It puts the seven flights at approximately 0.023 percent of daily European air travel and says even a hoax could cost an airline tens of thousands of dollars. Townhall opens with Finnair Flight 1761 and three Ryanair flights bound for Sofia, all landing safely. It embeds a Fox News post saying at least 14 flights changed course, landed early or got fighter-jet escorts, and a New York Post post.

It reports Lecornu's office saying all 151 passengers and six crew on the Aer Lingus flight are safe, and adds AP's report of hoax threats against two Aegean Airlines flights.

Money and daily life

For travellers, Aer Lingus said it is working to "re-accommodate customers to their final destination as soon as possible" after its Dublin-Rome flight was diverted to France, according to the BBC. Aviation security professor Philip Baum told AP each disruption could cost airlines as much as $250,000. He said delays can leave passengers missing connections.

All sources: 10 articles from 9 outlets

Liberal (5)

Center (3)

Conservative (2)

Related