Overview
- Several commercial flights were diverted or escorted by military jets on Thursday after anonymous bomb-threat emails led crews to follow emergency protocols, including an Aer Lingus A320 to Évreux, a Wizz Air A321 to Vienna, and a Finnair flight to Fiumicino.
- France and Italy scrambled fighter jets to intercept and escort the airliners under standard national procedures that send aircraft to secure fields for on-board and baggage searches.
- Police cyber units say at least two alerts on the Helsinki–Rome and Dublin–Rome flights were triggered by a single anonymous e-mail written in Italian sent to Rome airport addresses.
- Bomb-squad inspections so far have found no explosives on several aircraft, including checks on the Finnair flight and a LOT service, and passengers and crew are reported safe while post-landing procedures continue.
- Authorities warn that even false e-mails impose heavy operational and human costs on airlines and airports and say cross-border police and aviation agencies will keep coordinated security checks and forensic tracing of the messages.