European skies had barely recovered from Tuesday’s wave of mid-air alerts when Thursday brought another cluster of bomb threats against passenger jets. Aircraft were diverted, escorted or searched across France, Italy, Belgium, Czechia, Austria and Bulgaria, turning a routine morning into a continent-wide scramble for airports and air forces.
The first case to draw wide attention was Aer Lingus flight EI402 from Dublin to Rome. Tracking data showed the Airbus A320 peel away near Paris and descend into the military airfield at Évreux. France’s air force said fighters launched as soon as the report came in, and the office of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said it was following events “in real time.” The carrier later confirmed the diversion “as a security precaution” and said the plane landed safely, with passengers due to be rebooked onward.
Finnair reported threats against two Helsinki departures: the Rome service arrived at Fiumicino under military escort, and a Vienna-bound flight also reached its scheduled airport. A Wizz Air service from Milan toward Warsaw declared an emergency and put down in Vienna instead. LOT’s Warsaw–Brussels run landed on time; cabin staff checked the cabin and, according to the airline, found nothing suspicious. In Bulgaria, three Ryanair jets heading for Sofia were forced into emergency procedures — two from Copenhagen and Madrid reached the capital, while a London Stansted flight diverted to Plovdiv. Czech police said Prague was bracing for four arrivals after tips about improvised devices, judging the threats “low” in credibility yet still ordering full sweeps.
Tuesday’s earlier alerts had already emptied cabins and runways; searches turned up no explosives, and London labelled them “malicious hoax threats.” Preliminary word on Thursday pointed the same way, but the operational cost remains real: escorts, diversions and delayed connections for thousands of travellers in a single morning.
