Bomb threats hit European flights, and a Ryanair jet in Lisbon is searched

Search at Lisbon airport

Police received the threat against Ryanair flight FR8197 at 07:20 on Friday, 6 November, through international police cooperation channels, while the aircraft due to operate it was still approaching Lisbon on the previous flight, FR8196. Once the plane landed, the Public Security Police (PSP) launched a coordinated operation with the airport manager, the airline and other authorities. SIC reported that the aircraft landed around 08:00. Specialists from the Special Police Unit inspected it for suspicious objects and did not confirm any explosive device. All passengers and their luggage on FR8197 were screened again before boarding. The PSP described the threat as false and continues to investigate its origin together with the Judicial Police and the civil aviation authority ANAC. Sources differ on the route: SIC describes a flight from Rome to Lisbon, while SAPO's report of the PSP statement describes FR8197 leaving Lisbon for Rome.

Three alerts over Hungary

Hungary's defence minister, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, said the army received three bomb threats on Friday against commercial aircraft flying through Hungarian airspace. The first came shortly before 10:00 local time (09:00 in Lisbon) and concerned a Brussels to Sofia flight. Half an hour later, two flights that had left Prague, one bound for Cyprus and one for Bucharest, were targeted. In all three cases NATO issued an 'Alpha Scramble' order for immediate fighter interception, and the Hungarian air force escorted the planes to the Serbian border in the first case and to the Romanian border in the other two.

Threats spread across the continent

At least 25 flights between European countries were affected on Thursday, 5 November, which led the European Commission to activate its information-sharing mechanism between member states. Threats this week have also hit flights in Spain, France, Belgium, Austria, Poland, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Finland, Serbia and Romania. SIC counted at least 27 aircraft forced to land on suspicion of carrying explosives, including flights to Sofia, Warsaw, Madrid, Vienna and Prague. One flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to a military base in France, where two fighter jets escorted it and it landed safely. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) assesses the alerts as a reduced threat to air safety despite the dozens of affected flights.

A Russian extremist link

On Tuesday, 3 November, a cell sent an email to Italian airports threatening bombs on six flights, as ANSA reported. The email pointed to Muzhskoye Gosudarstvo, an ultranationalist and misogynist Russian movement founded by Vladislav Pozdnyakov and banned in Russia. Rome's airport and Bulgarian authorities said they received threats from the same organisation, which SIC names as the Fighters of the Male State, a Russian far-right association. EU Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said it is too early to conclude whether the incidents are related.

Airport and air traffic response

The airport operator ANA said it was working closely with police, had reinforced passenger support teams to limit disruption, and referred information requests to the PSP. The air navigation provider NAV said its president, Pedro Ângelo, was keeping security protocols in place.

“NAV ensures that security protocols have been followed to the letter and are being activated in coordination with the military and security forces.”

NAV added that route changes, diversions and deviations are a normal part of air traffic control and are handled daily under standard procedures, with safety as the top priority.