Seven passenger flights across Europe were searched on Tuesday after bomb threats, and every alert has been confirmed as a false alarm. No device was found. The warnings hit aircraft bound for Warsaw, Rome, Sofia and Murcia, and they began with a LOT Polish Airlines service from London Heathrow that was diverted from Chopin airport to the smaller field at Modlin. Modlin closed briefly while the aircraft was checked.
The list, assembled through the afternoon and confirmed overnight, is short and scattered. An SAS flight from Copenhagen to Warsaw was searched. A Ryanair flight from Manchester to Murcia was searched. A Ryanair flight from Lisbon to Rome was searched. A Ryanair flight from Dublin to Rome was searched, and sources at Fiumicino told the BBC it was escorted to landing by the Italian Air Force. A Wizz Air flight from Bergamo to Sofia was searched. A second Ryanair flight, from Dublin to Sofia, was searched. Bulgaria's transport minister, Georgi Peev, told the Bulgarian News Agency that both aircraft heading for Sofia had been threatened.
A pattern, not yet a link
There is no official finding that one person, or one group, sent all seven warnings. Police and aviation authorities in several countries have said they will compare notes and decide whether the alerts were meant to disrupt the same day's flying. Until that work is done, the honest description is a series of hoaxes with the same effect: aircraft met on the ground, passengers delayed, and nothing found. Reporting the wording of a hoax would only repeat it. The fact that matters is the result of the searches.
The Seven Flights
- LOT, London Heathrow to Warsaw, diverted to Modlin. Modlin closed briefly.
- SAS, Copenhagen to Warsaw.
- Ryanair, Manchester to Murcia.
- Ryanair, Lisbon to Rome.
- Ryanair, Dublin to Rome, escorted by the Italian Air Force.
- Wizz Air, Bergamo to Sofia, and Ryanair, Dublin to Sofia.
- All seven confirmed as false alarms. No explosives found.
What it is not
It is not a change in the diplomacy scheduled for this month. The Abu Dhabi window for talks on Ukraine is still 6 to 10 November, and Europeans are still being offered briefings rather than a seat. Exercise Koalicja, the British and French rehearsal in Poland, still begins on 9 November. Tuesday's alerts belong to airports, not to those tables.
They do belong, in part, to Ireland. Two of the seven aircraft left Dublin, on a week when the government is preparing to host European leaders and unions are still set to strike on 12 November. A false alarm is not an attack. It is a cost: hours, escorts, a closed runway, and a morning in which passengers on seven flights were treated as if the warning might be real. That is the correct way to treat it, and it is also why a hoax works even after it has been disproved.