Hungary's defence minister, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, said military fighter jets escorted three separate passenger planes across the country's airspace within an hour on Friday, on flights from Brussels to Sofia and from Prague to Cyprus and Romania. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's office said "four new bomb threats were made today against aircraft flying over French territory"; the planes landed safely at Paris' Orly Airport, where bomb disposal experts were conducting inspections.
The disruption follows nearly 30 aircraft and several airports across Europe being affected by threats earlier in the week, in what the UK called a "malicious hoax". Authorities have not attributed the threats to any group or state actor, and no evidence has emerged linking the hoaxes to a government, though the wave comes amid warnings from authorities that Russia may be ramping up so-called hybrid threats in Europe.
A WizzAir flight from Prague to Rome was diverted to Venice after a bomb alert, with passengers evacuated after landing and searches finding no explosives. At Prague's Vaclav Havel Airport, spokesperson Denisa Hejtmánková said nine flights were threatened, including arriving flights from Denmark, Spain and Britain and departing flights to the Netherlands, Cyprus, Romania, Italy and Britain. At least 11 flights were targeted in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, according to AFP. In Copenhagen, police said they went to the airport for a second consecutive day over threats directed at air traffic as a precautionary measure. Eurocontrol said it was aware of bomb threats against 14 flights on Thursday, only 0.05% of the nearly 26,300 flights across the European network that day, and seven on Tuesday. The authority said the threats have caused minimal disruption to aviation across the continent.
In Ireland, the Dublin headquarters of national broadcaster RTÉ was evacuated after a bomb threat, with live broadcasts replaced by pre-recorded programmes; police and sniffer dogs searched the area and declared it safe. Staff at the Irish Independent and the Dublin offices of radio stations NewstalkFM and TodayFM were also advised to leave, and UK broadcaster Sky said it had received a security threat. Sky, which remained on air, said in a statement it had carried out a security assessment and reported the matter to the relevant authorities, adding that the safety of its colleagues was its primary concern. Gardaí said they were "aware of a threat made against media organisations here and in Europe". No link has been established between the threats to airlines and to media outlets.
The Irish government warned the wave was a "likely coordinated campaign of disruption", saying in a statement that hoax threats "cause fear, distress and disruption to people going about their daily lives and activities; they achieve no positive purpose whatsoever". Prime Minister Micheál Martin described the situation as "worrying" and said "yesterday, there appeared to be coordinated efforts to disrupt air travel", adding that his government's first priority was the safety of the Irish public. He said there would be a "very significant security operation" next week when Dublin hosts meetings of the European Political Community and European Union leaders.
An email containing a threat sent Thursday to airport authorities in Rome, reviewed by The Associated Press, purported to come from a group describing itself as anti-feminist and claiming it was targeting a "feminist regime". The Russian extremist group "Male State", named in this week's hoax threats to Italian airports, denied any link to the false warnings, with an account on Telegram replying to the BBC Russian Service: "What Male State? Where have you seen it? It hasn't existed for many years." Paul Reuter, vice president of the European Cockpit Association, said bomb threats are on pilots' minds and create unnecessary tension, but crews are prepared to respond professionally, and called the use of civil aviation for geopolitical disruption or hoaxes "totally unacceptable".