Bomb Hoaxes Disrupt 27 European Flights, Costs Fall on Airlines

At least 27 flights across Europe were disrupted on Thursday by bomb hoaxes — the second wave in a week — and airlines, not any identified attacker, are absorbing the cost. No explosives were found on any aircraft, and no government has named a culprit.

The operational damage was immediate and concrete. French fighter jets intercepted an Aer Lingus Dublin–Rome flight carrying more than 150 passengers and escorted it to the Évreux air base in Normandy. Bulgaria's air force escorted three airliners to the ground. Air Europa and Iberia aircraft were searched in Madrid after Spanish authorities received three emailed threats in under 20 minutes. A Wizz Air Milan–Warsaw flight diverted to Vienna, and LOT stopped a Warsaw–Paris departure while taxiing.

What happened earlier in the week?

Monday and Tuesday brought the first wave: at least seven flights operated by Wizz Air, Ryanair, LOT and Scandinavian Airlines, plus a cruise ship in Greece, received threats. No explosives were found then either. Warsaw Modlin airport briefly shut down during the response.

The UK government labeled the incidents "malicious hoax threats." Beyond that, attribution is thin. Bloomberg reported no pattern in the carriers or routes targeted.

Who is behind the threats?

Matthew Borie of Osprey Flight Solutions, a aviation security intelligence firm, told the AP the threats could come from copycats, a single person or group, or state-actor "hybrid warfare" — coordinated disruption aimed at destabilizing civilian infrastructure. He pointed to a possible Russian link. Moscow has denied European accusations of sabotage and hybrid attacks this year. No government has confirmed responsibility.

Who pays for the response?

The commercial damage is one-sided, and it lands on carriers. Each acted-on threat triggers a diversion or a stopped departure, a full search of passengers and baggage, often a replacement aircraft, crews exhausting their permitted duty hours, and passenger rebooking. Fighter escorts and airport closures such as Warsaw Modlin's shutdown add further strain.

Skift has reported that insurance typically does not cover those commercial losses. For low-cost carriers running tight aircraft utilization — Wizz Air and Ryanair among them — a single diversion cascades into cancellations across the day's schedule.

With no pattern identified and no culprit named, European carriers face an open-ended exposure: repeated, low-cost hoaxes that force expensive, regulator-mandated responses each time a threat arrives.