Bomb hoaxes disrupt at least 25 European flights as officials probe possible coordination and Male State links

At Prague airport, four inbound flights were sent to remote stands and searched by Czech police for explosives. They had come from Athens, Dublin, Glasgow and Newcastle. The searches found nothing, passengers got off safely and collected their bags, and airport spokesperson Jiří Hannich said an anonymous threat had been received about possible explosive devices on selected flights. That was one corner of a day on which hoax bomb threats disrupted at least 25 flights across Europe, bringing the week's total to at least 32. Every incident has so far been confirmed as a false alarm.

The incidents were scattered. At Copenhagen, two aircraft were inspected after emailed threats, according to Danish broadcasters DR and TV2. Both were cleared to fly once investigators found no danger. At Cork, a Ryanair flight from London Stansted, named in Irish media as FR901, was held after the airport received what a spokesperson called an anonymous phone threat about a specific flight. Extra security measures were put in place with An Garda Síochána, nothing of concern turned up, and the flight resumed with a 90-minute delay. Italian agency Ansa reported two more affected flights with Italian links: a WizzAir service from Milan Malpensa to Warsaw, which reportedly landed in Vienna, and a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome Fiumicino. Le Soir reported a threat against a LOT Polish Airlines flight from Warsaw, which landed at Zaventem. A Ryanair flight from Pescara to Brussels Charleroi was also inspected after the word "bomb" was found scrawled in a lavatory. The airport told Le Soir and RTBF that checks of all luggage and passengers showed no threat.

The most dramatic episode involved an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome, diverted to Évreux in France after a threat. According to AFP, France24, Le Figaro and TF1, the pilot initially refused to land at a military base and insisted on a civilian airport such as Beauvais or Nantes. The French air force intercepted the plane with fighter jets. Local prosecutor Rémi Coutin told AFP the pilot would be "questioned under caution." Aer Lingus said it was aware of the matter and would cooperate with the French authorities.

The question of who is behind it remains open. An email sent to Sofia airport, reported by AFP, was signed "the fighters of the Male State." It said the group would "make history" that day, that the recipients' "feminist regime" would remember it, that an explosion would occur in 60 minutes, and that "your skies will turn red." Similar messages were reportedly sent to Italian airports, according to local reports in Bulgaria and Italy.

Male State is a Russian far-right, ultranationalist and misogynistic movement founded in 2016 by Vladislav Pozdnyakov, initially as an online community on VKontakte. Its supporters became known for coordinated harassment of women, LGBTQ+ people and businesses that had criticised discrimination. A Nizhny Novgorod regional court designated it an extremist organisation in October 2021 and banned it in Russia. Pozdnyakov remains a prominent online supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine, but on his Telegram channel he has neither commented on nor claimed the threats. The Guardian's Russia expert Pjotr Sauer stressed that nobody knows for sure whether the group is involved.

There is no intelligence yet pointing to a particular group or state actor such as Russia or Iran, amid wider worries about hybrid incidents aimed at Europe. The EU transport commissioner said it was too early to say whether the threats are linked. Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto described the pattern as "warfare below the threshold," a form of pressure that makes attribution difficult.

The scale is worth keeping in view. Eurocontrol said some 27,400 flights were scheduled in Europe that day, so the affected flights were a tiny fraction. Iata condemned the "attempts to interrupt air transport" and urged authorities to "find the origins of these hoax threats." Its senior vice president Nick Careen said safety remains the industry's top priority and that passengers should be assured security measures will keep public safety at the highest level. The next developments to watch are the French questioning of the Aer Lingus pilot and whether investigators can tie the Bulgarian and Italian emails to any single source.