Seven aircraft searched after bomb threats at European airports

Two passenger aircraft bound for Warsaw reported separate bomb threats on Tuesday, prompting checks of both planes and a brief closure of Warsaw-Modlin airport, according to the BBC.

A LOT flight from London Heathrow, carrying 181 people, reported a threat while heading to Warsaw Chopin airport and landed instead at Modlin, north of the capital. Modlin said the Boeing 737 Max landed at 10:01 local time and passengers later disembarked. The airport subsequently said flights had resumed and the aircraft was being checked by the relevant authorities.

A second plane, operated by SAS and flying from Copenhagen to Chopin, reported a threat, Danish media reported. It landed as scheduled. A Chopin airport spokesman said one runway on the airport apron had been closed, but that operations were not significantly affected.

The incidents came a day after a Wizz Air flight from London Luton to Sofia diverted to Budapest after a bomb threat. Hungarian authorities escorted the plane with a fighter jet, and Wizz Air said security checks found nothing. A report on that diversion

The BBC report did not state whether checks of the two Warsaw-bound aircraft had been completed.

Update

Seven aircraft were searched at European airports on Tuesday after bomb threats, but no explosives were found. Authorities have not identified who made the threats or established whether they were coordinated.

The searches took place in Rome, Warsaw, Murcia and Sofia. Two Ryanair aircraft at Rome Fiumicino, arriving from Lisbon and Dublin, were checked after landing; the Dublin flight had been escorted by the Italian air force. In Murcia, 121 people were taken off a Ryanair flight from Manchester and underwent security checks.

Bulgaria’s transport ministry said threats were also received about two flights bound for Sofia: a Ryanair service from Dublin carrying 185 passengers and a Wizz Air flight from Milan Bergamo with 176. Both landed safely, and searches found no explosives.

A LOT flight from London made an unscheduled landing at Warsaw-Modlin instead of Warsaw-Chopin after a threat. Separately, a SAS aircraft arriving from Copenhagen was searched at Warsaw-Chopin.

The incidents followed other recent threats involving European flights. A Wizz Air flight from London to Sofia diverted to Budapest on Monday; the airline said checks found nothing. An Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna was diverted to Sofia on 18 October. Authorities have not said whether those cases are connected to Tuesday’s threats.