Wave of bomb threats against flights in Europe: 35 flights affected in three days

A series of bomb threats has disrupted air traffic across Europe in recent days. Data from Eurocontrol, the European air traffic management organisation, passed to the ANSA news agency shows that threats affected 35 flights in total on 3, 5 and 6 November 2026. According to available reports, no explosives were found in any of the cases checked.

What happened

On Tuesday 3 November, an alert was declared at 9.54am on a plane flying from London Heathrow to Warsaw. The aircraft, carrying 181 people, made an emergency landing at Warsaw-Modlin airport at 10.01am. The airport was closed during the checks and traffic resumed at around 11.50am. The airport's president, Jacek Kowalski, said passenger delays were minor, amounting to several dozen minutes. The same day, an alert concerned an SAS flight from Copenhagen to Warsaw. The plane landed at Chopin Airport, where the security services carried out a check.

On Thursday 5 November, according to Polish Radio, threats affected at least 15 passenger flights, including three linked to Poland. A LOT flight from Warsaw to Brussels landed safely at Zaventem airport. A Wizz Air flight from Milan to Warsaw was diverted to Vienna, and a LOT flight to Paris was checked in Warsaw. An Aer Lingus Airbus A320 from Dublin to Rome landed at the Évreux military base in France. A Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome landed under escort from Italian fighter jets. In Bulgaria, three Ryanair flights were affected, including a flight from London that was diverted to Plovdiv. Czech police checked four flights heading for Prague.

Who is behind it?

Investigators do not know who is responsible for the threats. According to rp.pl, European services are running an international investigation and are examining whether the alerts were a coordinated operation. The hypotheses include the involvement of pro-Kremlin activists or hacker groups, but nothing has been confirmed so far. Lubomir Nikolov, acting chief secretary of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry, said there was no information about a specific terrorist threat. He added that the services respond to every report in line with procedures.

A challenge for the industry

In its description of an article published on 6 November 2026, BBC News notes that after a week of disruption airlines are struggling with both safety and costs. We were unable to verify the financial details from that article. Every alert forces a diversion or a check of the aircraft, and often involves the security services and the military.

What this means for you

The flights hit by alerts included routes from London to Poland and from London to Bulgaria. People travelling within Europe, including between the UK and Poland, may therefore face delays or a landing at a different airport. In the cases we know of, the checks ended after a few hours, and the planes and passengers landed safely.