Third Bomb Threat Wave Hits Flights Across Europe
A third wave of bomb threats targeted passenger flights across Europe on Friday, 6 November, forcing an aircraft to divert and prompting military escorts and security checks. The latest warnings followed similar incidents earlier in the week, affecting journeys involving Italy, France, the Czech Republic and Hungary. For those caught up in the alerts, a routine flight could suddenly become an unscheduled landing or a prolonged wait.
A Wizz Air flight travelling from Prague to Rome landed instead in Venice, where passengers were evacuated and the aircraft searched. Prague Airport reported threats against nine flights, involving four arrivals and five departures. Hungarian fighter jets escorted three passenger planes after separate warnings. In France, four aircraft landed at Paris Orly for security inspections, while police deployed to Copenhagen Airport as a precaution.
Checks found no explosives, and authorities reported no injuries. Eurocontrol recorded threats involving 14 flights on Thursday, around 0.05% of nearly 26,300 European services, and seven on Tuesday. The air traffic body described disruption across the wider network as limited. Investigators have not identified who sent the warnings or established whether the incidents are connected, leaving the cause of the repeated alerts unresolved.
What to Do if Your Flight Is Affected
- Check your flight status with the airline before travelling to the airport.
- Already at the airport? Follow staff instructions if security checks delay boarding.
- If your plane lands elsewhere, ask how the airline plans to get you to your destination.
- For cancelled flights, ask about a refund or rerouting under EU passenger rights.
- Had to pay for meals, a hotel or transport? Keep the receipts.
A diversion can leave passengers hundreds of kilometres from the airport on their ticket, with onward travel still to arrange. Under EU rules, landing in a different city is normally treated as a cancellation unless the passenger accepts rerouting to the original destination. Security threats may count as extraordinary circumstances, so fixed compensation is not guaranteed. Rights to assistance and rerouting can still apply.
