Flights across Europe have been diverted, grounded and escorted by fighter jets in response to a wave of bomb threats, marking a second major outbreak of false alerts in less than a week.
asserted
Flights → divert → week
On Thursday, planes departing from 16 countries, including Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain and Denmark, were affected.
asserted
planes → depart → Ireland
Flights have either been forced to divert to alternate locations or undergo additional security checks.
asserted
Flights → force → checks
On Friday, the threats continued.
asserted
threats → continue → Friday
Recommended Stories
list of 3 items- list 1 of 3One dead after two helicopters collide near Mount Everest in Nepal
- list 2 of 3Iran commander sets out five conditions for regional security
- list 3 of 3Bomb threats disrupt flights across Europe, no explosive devices found
Authorities have deployed bomb disposal teams and military fighter jets in several countries.
asserted
Authorities → collide → countries
So far, security inspections following threats have yielded no evidence of explosives or suspicious materials on board aircraft, and no passenger has reported being harmed.
asserted
passenger → follow → aircraft
What happened?
asserted
What → happen → ?
On Friday, a Ryanair flight landed in Lisbon, Portugal at 8am after a bomb threat was made by phone to the authorities, Italian media has reported.
asserted
media → land → authorities
A security operation was mounted as soon as the plane landed.
asserted
plane → mount → ?
Separately, the control tower in Fiumicino, Italy, received an alert about a device aboard a Wizzair flight to Rome from Paris.
asserted
tower → receive → Paris
The Wizzair flight was diverted to Venice where police were clearing the area around the plane.
asserted
police → divert → plane
In Poland, authorities received a warning about a potentially dangerous object on board a Polish Airlines flight already taxiing on the runway at Warsaw Chopin Airport.
asserted
authorities → receive → Airport
The flight to Paris was prevented from taking off and passengers disembarked, but a search by security services found nothing dangerous on board, an airline spokesman told local media.
-
asserted
spokesman → prevent → media
In Warsaw, a LOT flight to Paris was also halted and passengers were transferred to another aircraft.
asserted
passengers → halt → aircraft
A LOT flight from London Heathrow to Warsaw-Chopin Airport was forced to land at the Polish capital’s other airport, Warsaw-Modlin, following a threat.
asserted
flight → force → threat
Nothing was found on board.
asserted
Nothing → find → board
- The Italian Air Force escorted a Finnair plane into Rome after an anonymous bomb-threat email was sent to Aeroporti di Roma (ADR) and other companies at Fiumicino.
asserted
email → escort → Fiumicino
The plane arrived safely.
asserted
plane → arrive → ?
- In Bulgaria, a Ryanair flight from London to Sofia was diverted to make an emergency landing in Plovdiv, the country’s second city, following a bomb threat.
asserted
flight → divert → threat
- In the space of just 20 minutes, Spanish authorities reported receiving three emailed bomb threats regarding two Air Europa departures from Madrid to Paris and four inbound Iberia flights from Rome and Milan, Spain’s Guardia Civil said.
asserted
Civil → report → Rome
- A flight from Cork in Ireland was delayed for 90 minutes when the airport received a threat, the airport operator said.
asserted
operator → delay → threat
- A Ryanair flight from Pescara in Italy to Charleroi in Belgium was subject to a false bomb alarm, state news agency Ansa reported.
asserted
Ansa → report → alarm
Local media in Belgium reported that security protocols were triggered after the word “bomb” was found written in one of the aircraft’s restrooms.
asserted
word → report → restrooms
What happens when a threat is received?
asserted
threat → happen → ?
When an airline is notified of a threat to an aircraft, it is passed to a team of assessors, said Joji Waites, director of flight safety, policy and regulation at BALPA, the British Airlines Pilots’ Association.
asserted
Waites → notify → BALPA
“These assessors use standard processes to grade the threat and decide whether the threat is red (credible), amber (partially credible) or green (not credible).
asserted
threat → use → threat
Amber is not considered an appropriate assessment if the plane is airborne,” said Waites.
asserted
Waites → consider → ?
After receiving a threat, an aircraft is directed to an area well away from the airport buildings.
asserted
aircraft → receive → buildings
Passengers are disembarked and screened while border police with sniffer dogs inspect the plane, according to an airport official.
uncertain
police → disembark → official
Is this the first time threats like this have been made?
asserted
threats → make → this
The incidents follow a series of hoax bomb threats earlier this week.
asserted
incidents → follow → threats
On Monday, a flight from the UK to Bulgaria was diverted after a threat that turned out to be without substance.
asserted
that → divert → substance
On Tuesday, seven planes across Europe were searched or diverted because of malicious hoax bomb alerts.
asserted
planes → search → alerts
And also this week, there have also been cyberattacks on supermarkets in several European cities, with hackers changing the temperature on refrigeration in an apparent attempt to spoil food.
asserted
hackers → change → food
Philip Baum, a visiting professor of aviation security at Coventry University, said the scale and coordinated nature of these latest incidents are unusual.
asserted
scale → visit → incidents
“There are indeed individual airlines that experience a bomb threat every day, but most of those are very quickly evaluated and determined to be non-specific, and the aircraft do not divert,” said Baum.
asserted
Baum → be → those
What sets the latest incidents apart, he said, is that authorities across several European countries appear to be treating the threats as credible enough to require planes to land and undergo security inspections.
asserted
authorities → set → inspections
Baum noted that each flight disruption could cost airlines as much as $250,000.
uncertain
disruption → note → 250,000
The UK’s government called the latest disruption “malicious hoax threats”.
asserted
government → call → disruption
London Heathrow, the busiest airport for passenger traffic in Europe, was also targeted.
asserted
Heathrow → target → Europe
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
