More than 25 flights across Europe were disrupted by bomb threats on November 5, 2026, causing emergency landings, diversions, and delays for multiple airlines. The incidents involved Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Wizz Air, Finnair, easyJet, Aegean Airlines, Iberia, Sky Express, Air Serbia, and LOT Polish Airlines.
Key Airports and Flight Disruptions
Flights operating between Italy, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Finland, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, France, Greece, Serbia, and Czechia experienced disruptions. Heathrow and Birmingham airports in the UK received bomb threats overnight, which were determined to be hoaxes after investigations by the Metropolitan police’s aviation police command. Four aircraft arriving at or
departing from Heathrow faced threats, while Cork Airport reported an anonymous phone threat causing a delay to a Ryanair flight from London Stansted.
A Ryanair flight from Pescara, Italy, to Brussels-Charleroi was subjected to a search after the word “bomb” was found written in the aircraft’s toilet. An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to the Évreux military base in France following a bomb threat, with the pilot questioned by French authorities after initially refusing to land at the base.
Background and Threat Origin
Bomb threat emails received at airports in Rome and Sofia were signed by the “fighters of the
Male State,” a Russian far-right ultranationalist and misogynistic group founded in 2016 and banned in Russia in 2021. The emails included warnings that an explosion would occur within 60 minutes, stating, “Today, your skies will turn red.”
The threats coincided with cyberattacks on supermarket refrigeration systems across Europe. Despite ongoing investigations, authorities have found no conclusive evidence linking the bomb threats to hostile terror groups or state actors such as Russia or Iran.
Official Responses
Nick Careen, senior vice-president for operations, safety and security at the International Air Transport Association (Iata), said, “Safety is the number one priority for the industry and
we take all threats seriously.” A spokesperson for the Metropolitan police’s aviation police command confirmed the bomb threats at Heathrow and Birmingham were hoaxes and stated that no security issues were identified.
EU Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said it was too early to determine links between incidents and condemned any threats against civilians. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected allegations of Russian involvement, calling them “baseless accusations.” Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto described the disruptions as “under-threshold warfare” intended to sow tensions without attribution.
Threat Nature and Expert Analysis
The bomb threats were assessed as hoaxes designed to cause operational disruption rather than credible security risks.
All affected flights landed safely and were searched without finding explosives. The incidents affected only a fraction of approximately 27,400 flights scheduled across Europe on November 5, 2026, according to Eurocontrol.
Multiple low-cost carriers were targeted, but no clear geographic or airline pattern emerged. Aviation experts stated that, while hoax threats occur daily, the scale and coordination of this series of threats were unusual. The availability of extensive airline operation details online has reportedly increased hoaxers’ ability to craft targeted threats.
Guido Crosetto remarked, “It seems to me that every day now, from refrigerators to blood supplies in France, to
these fake alarms, there’s someone who has an interest in stoking tensions.”
