Wave of hoax bomb threats spreads from European flights to newsrooms

A week-long wave of hoax bomb threats against European air travel widened on Friday, 6 November, to include newsrooms, Reuters, AFP and The Guardian reported. No explosive device has been found and all threatened planes landed safely.

Flights

• Threats on Tuesday and Thursday forced at least 35 flights to be diverted or searched, according to The Guardian; some were escorted by fighter jets.
• On Friday at least 18 more flights to or from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania and the UK were affected. Prague airport said nine flights were threatened.
• Many targets were low-cost carriers. A Wizz Air flight from Prague to Rome was diverted to Venice.
• Hungarian jets escorted several airliners, and Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said NATO had ordered some air patrols in the area.

Newsrooms

Bulgaria’s Nova TV and Ireland’s public broadcaster RTE received emails from a purported “Mikhail Andropov” headed “Message to the West”, claiming responsibility and warning of attacks on transport across Europe. RTE evacuated its offices and suspended programming; Sky said it also received a threat. Reuters could not establish the sender’s identity or whether the emails were linked to the flight threats. AFP reported that some messages were signed by “fighters of the Male State”, the name of a far-right movement in Russia, but had not confirmed any link.

Who is behind it?

No country has formally attributed blame. European officials are concerned the hoaxes may be part of a campaign of “hybrid” disruptions, which many have blamed on Russia, against countries that help Ukraine. Moscow has denied involvement, Reuters noted.