Europe faced a second consecutive day of disruption on Friday after fresh bomb threats were reported against flights and aviation facilities across the continent.
Danish police said they were investigating threats aimed at air traffic at Copenhagen Airport, a day after hoax bomb warnings affected at least 27 flights across Europe.
Authorities in Denmark said their initial assessment indicated there was no immediate danger to passengers.
‘We are once again at Copenhagen Airport today in connection with threats directed at air traffic,’ police said in a statement. Officers added that they were investigating the incident and maintaining a visible presence at the airport.
Czech police also said they had recorded a bomb threat involving flights departing from and arriving at Prague Airport. One Wizz Air service from Prague to Rome was diverted to Venice.
An airport spokesperson said no explosives had been found during checks carried out so far, and that no flights had been cancelled or diverted.
A bomb threat was also reported on a Ryanair flight from Rome after it landed in Lisbon. In France, the prime minister’s office confirmed that four aircraft flying through French airspace had been targeted.
The offices of Ireland’s national broadcaster, RTÉ, were also targeted by a bomb threat on Friday morning. The warning was later declared a hoax.
An RTÉ radio reporter said programming resumed from an outside broadcast unit after an email sent to the broadcaster shortly before 9am warned that a bomb would explode within 45 minutes.
Targeted flights and locations:
- Copenhagen Airport saw a police presence following ‘threats directed at air traffic.’
- Wizz Air flight from Prague to Rome (diverted to Venice)
- Ryanair flight from Rome to Lisbon (landed safely)
- Four aircraft flying over France (landed safely)
- RTÉ offices in Dublin
Airport security guards outside a terminal at Copenhagen Airport in Denmark
People were evacuated from RTÉ studios in Dublin after a hoax bomb threat
The presenter of RTÉ Radio One’s mid-morning news programme said the email appeared to have come from the same individuals linked to the hoax bomb threats that disrupted dozens of passenger flights across Europe on Thursday.
‘It is worrying, and we take the threat seriously,’ Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said in a telephone interview with RTÉ shortly after programming resumed following an interruption of more than an hour.
‘It illustrates how relatively simple it can be to cause disruption and undermine the normal operation of society through unconventional activities of this kind, which are intended to create fear and anxiety. We have to remain calm and very focused on this.’
The RTÉ campus in south Dublin remained closed as police searched the buildings room by room, the reporter said.
The latest incidents follow a series of bomb threats that have disrupted passenger flights across Europe in recent days, triggering diversions, emergency landings and extensive security checks. No explosives have been discovered so far.
At least 27 flights were affected on Thursday, including several services operating from the UK.
A Ryanair aircraft flying from London to Bulgaria was among those targeted. Several other planes were escorted by fighter jets as they diverted across the continent, while bomb disposal teams carried out inspections after the aircraft landed.
An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome was also diverted to France on Friday. Two other flights bound for Prague, from Newcastle and Glasgow, were targeted by bomb threats but later landed safely.
In Britain, Heathrow and Birmingham airports confirmed that they had received threats early in the day. The warnings were later resolved, and flights continued as normal.
Heathrow described the malicious hoax threats as not credible, according to The Times.
Although no country has been blamed for the warnings, they come as European officials increasingly accuse Russia and Iran of carrying out what they describe as ‘hybrid attacks’ and acts of sabotage.
Other affected services included a flight from Helsinki to Rome, which was escorted safely to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport by air force jets.
A Finnair flight from Helsinki to Vienna landed normally despite receiving a bomb threat.
A bomb alert was also reported on a Wizz Air flight from Milan to Warsaw, which diverted to Vienna, and on a LOT Polish Airlines service from Warsaw to Brussels.
A Wizz Air flight from Prague to Rome was diverted to Venice on Friday (file picture)
An Aegean Airlines flight from Thessaloniki and a Ryanair service from Porto, both bound for Milan, reached their destinations safely after bomb threats were reported.
Another Finnair flight to Rome also landed safely after receiving a bomb threat.
Airport authorities in Rome said the hoax warnings had been sent by email with the subject line: ‘Threat Notification’.
The messages were signed in the name of a group calling itself the ‘Fighters of the Male State’. The group claimed it was targeting a ‘feminist regime’ and wanted to ‘make our mark on history’, the BBC reported, citing Italian authorities. The warnings threatened to ‘turn the sky red’ with explosions.
‘Fighters of the Male State’ is a far-Right movement that originated in Russia. It promotes extreme misogyny, white nationalism and anti-LGBT sentiments.
Later, three aircraft were forced to land at airports in Bulgaria after receiving bomb threats.
Two planes, arriving from Copenhagen and Madrid, landed in Sofia, while a third aircraft travelling from London landed in Plovdiv.
Polish carrier LOT said a flight from Warsaw to Brussels landed safely after a security warning, with no threat confirmed.
Czech police said four aircraft heading to Prague received bomb threats on Thursday.
Local media reports said two of the planes had originated in the UK, one in Greece and another in Ireland.
A Finnair flight from Helsinki to Vienna, operated by Jettime, also landed normally in Vienna on Thursday after receiving a bomb threat, according to a spokesman for the Finnish airline.
A separate Wizz Air service from Milan to Bucharest was also targeted by a bomb threat, Romania’s intelligence agency said.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
