Conflict · Aviation threats
Europe flight bomb threats: At least 15 flights affected, searches find no explosives Written November 5, 2026 at 12:46 PM UTC
Transcript 0:07 Two Finair flights carrying three twenty-one passengers landed safely after bomb 0:11 threats. 0:12 At least fifteen flights are reportedly affected across Europe, prompting 0:17 diversions, military escorts, and aircraft searches. 0:21 Investigators still haven't determined whether the threats share a source. 0:25 Earlier on November5, we reported that an Air Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome had 0:30 diverted to a French military base. 0:33 The additional flights and completed searches now show how much farther the 0:37 disruption reaches. 0:38 The Aer Lingus Airbus A320 landed safely at Avro. 0:43 All151 passengers and six crew left the aircraft safely, while military 0:49 bomb disposal teams examined it. 0:52 That flight is included in the wider count. 0:54 The Thursday tally covers at least fifteen flights. 0:57 The week's total exceeds twenty, including at least seven earlier journeys. 1:03 Those earlier flights belong in the weekly figure, so they aren't added again to 1:07 Thursday's count. 1:08 The daily count has a specific breakdown. 1:11 Eleven flights are identified by route, alongside four incoming Prague aircraft, 1:16 whose individual routes and flight numbers haven't been given. 1:20 That makes the total a reported tally, with part of the flight by flight details 1:25 still missing. 1:26 The list includes one Air Lingus flight, two Finair services, and two WIS Air 1:31 flights. 1:32 It also includes one Lot flight, three Bulgaria-bound Ryanair services, four 1:37 Prague-bound aircraft, and two additional arrivals at Milan. 1:41 FNAR's Rome flight carried one hundred and forty-four passengers and seven crew. 1:47 Its Vienna service carried one hundred and seventy-seven passengers and six crew. 1:52 Both reached their destination safely, and everyone disembarked. 1:56 Together, those aircraft carried three hundred twenty-one passengers and thirteen 2:01 crew. 2:02 An Italian fighter escorted the Rome aircraft, which arrived on schedule and was met 2:07 for security checks. 2:08 Jet time operated the Vienna service, which landed normally. 2:12 Finair called the alerts unfounded or hoax bomb threats, and said it assesses every 2:18 potential threat with local authorities. 2:20 The Rome aircraft search found nothing dangerous, but accounts disagree about the 2:25 airport's operations. 2:27 One describes a thirty-minute flight stop. 2:30 Airport operator A.D.R. 2:32 says normal operations weren't affected. 2:35 The extent and timing of any pause remain unclear. 2:38 A WIS Air Airbus A321, bound from Milan Malpensa to Warsaw, 2:44 received a bomb threat while airborne and diverted to Vienna. 2:48 The airline said its crew followed security procedures and that it was cooperating 2:52 with the authorities. 2:53 A second WIS Air flight from Milan Malpensa to Bucharest landed 2:59 safely. 3:00 Romanian intelligence service checks clear three threatened Ryanair flights were 3:04 heading to Sofia. 3:06 The Madrid and Copenhagen services continued there. 3:09 While the London Stansted aircraft diverted to Plovdiv, all three underwent 3:15 inspections, and authorities found no explosives, suspicious items or other 3:20 problems. 3:21 The London aircraft is already one of those three flights. 3:25 Operations at both Sofia and Plavdiv returned to normal. 3:29 Ryanair was arranging onward transportation from Plovdiv to Sofia, leaving those 3:34 passengers with another leg to complete after landing safely. 3:38 Lotis Warsaw to Brussels flight underwent two inspections. 3:42 After receiving information about a potential safety threat, the crew checked on 3:47 board and found no suspicious items. 3:49 Authorities searched again after landing in Brussels, and also found nothing 3:53 dangerous or suspicious. 3:55 Four Prague-bound aircraft have now landed and been searched, with no explosives or 4:00 suspicious devices discovered. 4:03 Earlier, Czech police had been preparing for their arrival. 4:07 Police rated the threat's credibility as low. 4:10 But activated security measures and arranged explosives inspections. 4:14 Police said those precautions were intended to limit disruption to passengers and 4:19 airport operations. 4:21 The completed searches moved those four aircraft beyond the earlier stage when 4:26 inspections were still being prepared. 4:28 Two additional aircraft landed safely at Milan Malpensa without diverting. 4:34 They were an Aegean Airlines service from Thessaloniki and Orion Air flight from 4:39 Porto. 4:40 Explosives technicians were inspecting both. 4:43 These arrivals are separate from the two WIS Air departures. 4:47 Some threats reached airlines by email. 4:49 Across the incidents, crews and ground teams carried out onboard checks, ground 4:54 searches and diversions, with military support on some flights. 4:58 Those responses interrupted journeys even where searches found nothing. 5:02 Air transport security expert Paul Mason called the frequency unusual. 5:07 He suggested the pattern could reflect a deliberate act rather than unrelated 5:12 malicious calls. 5:13 He also emphasized the process's airline crews and ground staff use to assess a 5:18 threat's credibility. 5:19 Authorities haven't confirmed a link among the threats, and nobody has claimed 5:24 responsibility. 5:25 Completed searches have found no explosive device. 5:28 Final inspection results are still awaited for the diverted Air Lingus aircraft. 5:33 The WIS air flight diverted to Vienna, and the two additional Milan arrivals.
Who reported what Where accounts conflict CBS News says Nov 5, 11:23 AM UTC Paul Mason told the BBC that the unusual scale and apparent credibility of the threats suggested a deliberate act, rather than coincidental malicious calls. FRANCE 24 English says Nov 5, 11:32 AM UTC The correspondent said investigators had no immediate evidence of a hostile state being behind the threats. France 24 says Nov 5, 11:32 AM UTC No country had attributed blame for the threats, according to the report. Fox News says Nov 5, 11:33 AM UTC The source of the bomb threats was not immediately clear. Sky News says Nov 5, 12:02 PM UTC Robinson said the identity of whoever was behind the threats was not known to her and expressed hope that authorities would identify them. CBS Chicago says Nov 5, 1:19 PM UTC The article says authorities had not confirmed a link between any of the threats. CBC News says Nov 5, 2:36 PM UTC Megan Williams said the group claiming responsibility was unfamiliar to her and that the perpetrators were not known. CBS Bay Area says Nov 5, 5:04 PM UTC No authority had confirmed a link between the threats, and it remained unclear who, if anyone, was behind them. CBS Colorado says Nov 5, 5:04 PM UTC No authorities had confirmed a link between the threats or identified who was behind them. The Guardian says Nov 5, 5:32 PM UTC There was no intelligence pointing to a particular group or state actor as responsible for the threats. CTV News says Nov 5, 7:31 PM UTC The transcript reports no claim of responsibility for the threats. Scripps News says Nov 5, 8:51 PM UTC The Metropolitan Police Aviation Section was working with international counterparts to investigate the threats. CBC News says Nov 5, 2:36 PM UTC Italian media reported that a group calling itself, in rough translation, the “fighters of the male” or “patriarchal state” claimed bombs had been planted in two flights from Helsinki and Dublin bound for Rome Fiumicino. The Guardian says Nov 5, 5:32 PM UTC Threat emails to airports in Rome and Sofia were reportedly signed “fighters of the Male State.” Scripps News says Nov 5, 8:51 PM UTC A claim attributed to an anti-feminist group in Italy had not been verified as credible. Points more than one outlet reported ≠ Responsibility for the threats remained unclear Accounts conflict · 12 outlets ≠ Threat messages attributed to a named group Accounts conflict · 3 outlets ✓ Number of European flights threatened Thursday Independently confirmed · 12 outlets ✓ Searches found no explosives or suspicious items Independently confirmed · 11 outlets ✓ Dublin to Rome flight diverted to western France Independently confirmed · 9 outlets ✓ Threats reported across the week Independently confirmed · 8 outlets ✓ Passengers and crew on diverted flight safe Independently confirmed · 7 outlets ✓ Threats led to diversions and emergency landings Independently confirmed · 7 outlets ✓ Flights diverted or made emergency landings Independently confirmed · 6 outlets ✓ Aircraft escorted by fighter jets Independently confirmed · 5 outlets Each line is the claim as we recorded it from that outlet's report. Compared as of November 6, 2026 at 4:04 AM UTC .
