Bomb threats disrupt 18 European flights, including two bound for Sofia

A fresh wave of bomb threats disrupted air traffic across Europe on Friday 6 November, affecting at least 18 flights to or from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania and the UK. Every affected aircraft landed safely, and searches found no explosive devices.

Key facts

• At least 18 flights to or from nine European countries were affected on Friday 6 November.
• Two of the flights were en route to Sofia; at least nine involved Prague and four flew over France.
• A flight from Lisbon to Rome was also hit by a threat.
• Earlier alerts on Tuesday and Thursday forced at least 35 flights to be diverted or searched.
• The affected services were just 0.0674% of the 26,709 flights scheduled in Europe on Friday, according to the air traffic control agency Eurocontrol.
• No explosive devices were found on any of the aircraft.

Which flights were affected?

The latest alerts hit at least nine flights to and from Prague, four flights over France, two flights en route to Sofia and one flight from Lisbon to Rome. Hungary scrambled fighter jets three times to escort civilian aircraft through its airspace, defence minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said on Facebook.

Danish police separately investigated a threat against Copenhagen airport, but the airport's management said it was operating normally. Eurocontrol figures show the disrupted services caused knock-on effects but represented a tiny share of Friday's European schedule.

Who is claiming responsibility?

Media organisations in Bulgaria, Ireland and the UK reported that a group claiming responsibility for this week's threats emailed several outlets warning of further attacks on transport across Europe. The message said: "This is only the beginning." The email's wider claims remain unsubstantiated.

Some of Thursday's threats were signed "fighters of the Male State", a reference to a Russian far-right, ultranationalist and misogynistic movement founded in 2016. In a Telegram post on Friday, the group's founder, Vladislav Pozdniakov, denied involvement and said the group had not existed since 2021.

Investigators say there is no evidence that the hoaxes are being orchestrated by a hostile terror group or state actor, such as Russia or Iran, but inquiries are continuing. Some officials suspect the disruption is linked to European support for Ukraine. Spain's foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said the repeated incidents with the same modus operandi suggested "an attempt at hybrid aggression". Nato said it continued to monitor the situation and was working closely with allies.

What this means for travellers

Flights to and from Bulgaria and eight other European countries have now been caught up in three waves of threats this week, so travellers should expect possible delays, diversions or searches and check their flight status before leaving for the airport. The scale remains small relative to total European traffic, and no device has been found.

What happens next

European security agencies are working to identify those responsible, and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said it was unclear whether the hoaxes and recent cyber-attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems in at least seven European countries were connected. The group claiming responsibility has warned of further actions against transport across Europe, though no specific dates or targets have been announced.