By Fatma Younis
Bomb threats targeting flights across Europe on Tuesday triggered emergency landings, diversions, and temporary airport closures, with experts warning that the disruption could last for days. Hundreds of passengers were affected as authorities responded to the coordinated scare.
Multiple Flights Targeted
Threats were reported on flights departing from London, Manchester, Copenhagen, Israel, Dublin, Bergamo, and Lisbon. Part of Murcia airport in southern Spain was cordoned off, while Warsaw-Modlin airport in Poland was closed during a search of a plane. No explosive devices were found, and Warsaw-Modlin has since reopened.
Previous Day's Incident
The wave of threats followed a Monday incident in which a Wizz Air flight from London to Sofia was diverted to Budapest after a bomb threat.
Expert Analysis on Investigation and Delays
Commercial pilot and Jettly CEO Justin Crabbe said there is no universal timeframe for investigating a threat, as specific threats require different responses than vague ones. Searches can be extremely thorough, involving baggage unloading, additional screening, trained dogs, and bomb technicians. Any threat to a commercial aircraft is treated as potentially genuine until authorities conclude otherwise, and affected aircraft are held out of service until cleared. Crew duty-hour limits can further prolong delays, as airlines may need replacement pilots or flight attendants.
Ripple Effects Across Network
Crabbe noted that disruption extends beyond the directly affected aircraft. Arriving flights face holding patterns or diversions, while departing flights experience ground delays. At busy airports, even a short interruption creates a significant backlog due to tightly coordinated schedules. An aircraft delayed in one city may have been scheduled for multiple subsequent flights, affecting passengers hundreds or thousands of miles away.
Planned Attack Likely
University of Illinois computer science professor Sheldon Jacobson said the scale of the disruption suggests a planned threat attack. He emphasized that the situation highlights the ongoing importance of airport security screening to keep the air system secure.
