Bomb Threats Hit Over a Dozen European Flights, Trigger Emergency Landings and Military Escorts

• More than a dozen flights across Europe received bomb threats on Thursday, forcing emergency landings and military interceptions in several countries
• An Aer Lingus flight to Rome was diverted to a French military air base after the pilot failed to cooperate as expected with authorities
• Experts warn each flight disruption could cost airlines up to $250,000, with broader economic damage from the wave of threats still being assessed

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More than a dozen flights across Europe were targeted by bomb threats on Thursday, triggering emergency landings, military jet escorts and widespread disruption, with authorities confirming that no hazardous materials have been found in any of the affected aircraft.

Britain's Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander described the incidents as "malicious hoax threats," while European Union Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas told reporters in Dublin that it was "too early to draw conclusions on whether the reported incidents are linked," adding that an EU information-sharing mechanism on aviation security had been activated.

AP reported that similar threats had already targeted flights earlier in the week before Thursday's larger cluster, which stands out as unusually large for a single day. The threats arrive at a time of heightened geopolitical tension, with European security officials warning that Russia may be intensifying so-called hybrid threats against the continent.

A copy of one threatening email, reviewed by The Associated Press, was sent on behalf of a group describing itself as anti-feminist and targeted Rome-bound flights.

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An official from a separate European airport confirmed receiving a similarly worded threat from a group using the same description, though it remained unclear whether the same group was responsible in both cases.

An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome was among the most dramatic cases, diverted to a military air base in Evreux, France, after French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu ordered warplanes to intercept it because, his office said, the pilot "didn't cooperate as expected with the authorities."

Military bomb disposal teams with dogs subsequently examined the aircraft on the tarmac. French aviation prosecutors confirmed that both the pilot and co-pilot were questioned as part of an investigation.

Italian and Croatian air force jets jointly escorted a Finnair flight departing Helsinki bound for Rome, with Croatia intercepting the aircraft in its own airspace before handing it off to Italian jets. Finnair confirmed that two of its flights faced "unfounded hoax bomb scares," both landing safely. Three Ryanair flights headed to Sofia, Bulgaria also received military escorts. Two landed in Sofia while a third, originating from London, was diverted to Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city.

The Financial and Security Cost of the Hoaxes

Aviation security expert Philip Baum, a visiting professor at Coventry University in England, estimated that each disruption could cost an airline as much as $250,000, factoring in crew hours, replacement staff and cascading delays for connecting passengers. Military operations carry additional costs that fall to governments rather than airlines.

Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, said the threats appeared designed to "sow chaos, uncertainty, about the reliability of air traffic across Europe" and to stress-test whether government and airport responses were adequately coordinated.

He warned the incidents could produce cascading economic effects well beyond the immediate disruption to individual flights.

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Source: YEN.com.gh