A wave of hoax bomb threats that swept across Europe this week disrupted more than 50 flights and spread to television newsrooms, forcing evacuations, fighter-jet escorts and emergency landings. Every search ended the same way: no explosives were found and no one was hurt.

The latest surge came on Friday 6 November, when at least 18 more flights were disrupted in what officials described as an apparently coordinated campaign to cause chaos. It was the third wave of threats to hit European aviation in four days. The Friday alerts affected flights to or from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania and the United Kingdom, including at least nine flights to and from Prague, four flights over France, two flights heading to Sofia and a Lisbon to Rome service.

The campaign began on Monday 2 November, when a Wizz Air flight from London Luton to Sofia was diverted to Budapest after a threat. On Tuesday, at least seven flights and a cruise ship received bomb threats. On Thursday, at least 25 threats hit airports including London, Birmingham, Brussels, Bucharest, Madrid, Milan, Prague, Rome, Sofia and Warsaw, with Sofia and Milan each recording six incidents, Rome five and Prague four. Ryanair was the hardest-hit airline, with eight reported cases by Thursday. Eurocontrol, which coordinates air traffic across Europe, counted 35 flights affected by bomb threats on 3, 5 and 6 November.

Despite the scale of the disruption, the affected flights were a tiny share of European air traffic. Eurocontrol said 26,709 flights were scheduled across Europe on Friday, meaning the disrupted services accounted for about 0.07 percent of them. Aviation experts say hoax threats happen daily, but the number this week is unusual.

Several of the incidents required a military response. Hungary scrambled fighter jets three times to escort civilian aircraft through its airspace, according to its defence minister, while Bulgarian jets escorted three airliners to the ground. An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome diverted to a French military base under fighter escort.

On Friday the campaign widened beyond aviation and reached newsrooms. Ireland's national broadcaster RTE evacuated its Dublin headquarters and suspended broadcasting after an alert, Bulgaria's Nova TV received a similar email, and Britain's Sky reported a security threat. Taoiseach Micheal Martin said the threats were an effort to sow fear and anxiety.

No one has been identified as responsible. Some of the emails used the title Message to the West and came from a sender styling itself as Mikhail Andropov, warning that this is only the beginning. Some of Thursday's threats were signed fighters of the Male State, a reference to a Russian far-right movement. Its founder, Vladislav Pozdniakov, denied involvement and said the group had not existed since 2021.

Investigators have said there is no evidence so far that a terror group or a state such as Russia or Iran is directing the hoaxes, but inquiries are continuing. Investigators are treating Russia as a leading hypothesis, judging by motive, methods and precedents, but they have not proved state direction. Officials are also looking at pro-Kremlin activists and hacker groups. Spain's foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, said there appeared to be a pattern, and some officials suspect a link to European support for Ukraine. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said it was unclear whether the hoaxes and recent cyberattacks on supermarket refrigeration systems in at least seven countries were all connected, but that what is under attack are civilian infrastructures.

The response is now moving to the European level. Paris prosecutors opened an investigation into possible links to foreign powers, Europol called a police meeting for next week, and EU transport security experts are also due to meet. UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander described the threats as malicious hoax threats. Transport economist Andrea Giuricin said the direct cost was in the order of a few million euros for flights, but warned that fear could become costly if the campaign continues.

For passengers, the practical advice remains unchanged. Airlines take every possible threat seriously. Joji Waites, director of flight safety at the British Airline Pilots' Association, said threats are graded as credible, partly credible or not credible, and that if a plane is already in the air, the priority is to land as soon and as safely as possible.