Various flights in Europe were forced to make emergency landings on Thursday due to bomb threats. These incidents occurred while European officials simultaneously pointed to Russia and Iran as potential sources of these threats.
Details of Emergency Landings
Flight EI402 of Aer Lingus from Dublin to Rome was diverted to Aurillac Airport, 100 kilometers west of Paris, due to a security threat. This flight landed under conditions where none of the threats raised were immediately deemed credible.
In Bulgaria, three flights were forced to make emergency landings due to bomb threats. Flights from Copenhagen and Madrid landed safely in Sofia, while another flight from London was diverted to Plovdiv, the second-largest city in Bulgaria.
Threats in Other European Countries
Czech police announced that four flights heading to Prague also received bomb threats, but assessed the credibility of these threats as low. The Italian Air Force safely escorted a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome. Additionally, another Finnair flight from Helsinki, under the name Jet Time, landed in Vienna without issues.
Polish airline LOT also announced that a flight from Warsaw to Brussels landed safely at its destination after receiving a security alert, with no suspicious items found. Furthermore, another flight to Paris was taxiing towards takeoff when it was stopped, and passengers were transferred to another aircraft.
Last Tuesday, at least seven flights and one cruise ship were disrupted due to bomb threats, although no suspicious devices were discovered. These threats come as some experts view them as part of cheap and deniable efforts to create disruption.
Elira Nalmog, CEO of the cybersecurity company Civion, noted that repeated threats could serve both to disrupt operations and to observe the reactions of airlines, airports, and national authorities. She added, "These aerial threats coincide with cyberattacks on supermarket cooling systems across Europe."
These events indicate disruptions to essential services that lead to economic costs and a decline in public trust.
