At least six passenger aircraft were searched across Europe on Tuesday after a string of bomb threats triggered emergency diversions, a temporary airport closure and the scrambling of military jets, with authorities in Poland, Spain, Bulgaria and Italy ultimately finding no explosives aboard any of the planes.
The alerts came one day after a Wizz Air service from London Luton to Sofia was diverted to Budapest and escorted by a Hungarian fighter jet, and follow a series of similar scares at European airports in recent weeks that all proved to be false alarms. Investigators have not established whether Tuesday’s threats were connected, and no group has claimed responsibility.
- Key Point: A LOT Polish Airlines flight from London Heathrow carrying 181 people was diverted to Warsaw-Modlin, briefly shutting the airport before operations resumed around midday.
- Key Point: A Ryanair flight from Manchester to Murcia landed safely in Spain, where authorities confirmed no explosives were on board the aircraft carrying 114 passengers and seven crew.
- Key Point: Two Ryanair planes arriving in Rome from Dublin and Lisbon were searched after anonymous tips, with Italian Air Force jets deployed to escort one of them.
- Key Point: A flight into Sofia, Bulgaria, was inspected by counter-terrorism units after a threat delivered by email.
Warsaw-bound flights trigger twin security operations
The most disruptive episode unfolded in Poland, where two separate aircraft heading for the capital were affected within a short window. A LOT flight that had departed Heathrow for Warsaw Chopin was redirected to Modlin, the smaller airport roughly 22 miles outside the city that mostly handles budget carriers, after the warning arrived at 8:54 a.m. GMT. The Boeing 737 MAX touched down at Modlin seven minutes later.
Passengers were evacuated and moved to the arrivals hall while bomb disposal specialists examined the aircraft and their luggage. Adam Szablowski, a spokesman for Modlin airport, said nothing suspicious was discovered.
The passengers were evacuated and the plane underwent security checks. Nothing was found. The airport has been reopened and is operating normally.
A Scandinavian Airlines flight from Copenhagen, meanwhile, received its own threat but landed as scheduled at Chopin airport, where it was subjected to a security inspection. SAS later confirmed the aircraft had arrived safely and that passengers had disembarked. Chopin remained open throughout, according to an airport spokesperson.
Spain, Bulgaria and Italy sweep aircraft
In southern Spain, a Ryanair service from Manchester landed normally at Murcia’s international airport in Corvera, where the 114 passengers and seven crew members left the plane before checks began. Francisco Lucas, the Spanish government’s delegate in the Murcia region, said on X that police had ruled out the presence of explosives and that the airport was returning to normal operations, thanking the emergency teams involved.
Bulgaria’s capital became the scene of a fourth operation when an aircraft landed at Sofia airport following a threat sent by email. Counter-terrorism units inspected the plane for possible explosive devices, according to Lyubomir Nikolov, secretary general of the interior ministry, who was quoted by the national news agency BTA. The airline, flight number, passenger count and exact route were not initially disclosed, and the contents of the email were not made public. Bulgarian officials later said the threats concerned planes arriving from Bergamo in Italy and Dublin in Ireland, correcting earlier reports that the flight had come from Israel.
Italy handled two further alerts at Rome’s Fiumicino-Leonardo da Vinci airport within just over an hour, both involving Ryanair aircraft, one from Dublin and one from Lisbon. The Dublin flight was escorted by two Italian Air Force fighter jets before landing, and bomb disposal experts carried out standard security protocols on both planes. Inspections of passengers, luggage and the aircraft produced negative results in each case, and no disruption was reported for those on board.
Pattern of false alarms raises security questions
Tuesday’s cluster follows a Wizz Air flight from London Luton to Sofia that was forced to make an emergency landing in Budapest on Monday after a mid-air threat; the airline said security checks were carried out and nothing was found. Similar incidents have been reported at various European airports in recent weeks, with the alerts later dismissed as hoaxes.
The scares have landed against a backdrop of heightened concern in Europe over hybrid threats to infrastructure since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In August, an explosive-laden drone was discovered near a Ukrainian aircraft at Leipzig/Halle airport in eastern Germany, prompting a counterterrorism investigation; Berlin blamed Moscow, which has repeatedly denied involvement in sabotage or hybrid operations and has not commented on Tuesday’s incidents in Poland.
What remains unclear is whether the threats were coordinated or the work of unconnected hoaxers, a question that will shape how carriers and airports calibrate their response. Each alert carries real costs — diverted aircraft, closed terminals, scrambled fighter jets and delayed passengers — and a sustained campaign of false warnings could strain security resources and erode confidence in air travel. For now, authorities across the four countries are treating the episodes as closed, with no arrests reported and no evidence of an actual device found on any of the aircraft involved.