A new series of false alerts disrupted air traffic across Europe on Thursday morning. Over a dozen flights were targeted, including LOT Polish Airlines flight LO235 from Warsaw to Brussels and a Wizz Air flight that landed in Otopeni. Fighter aircraft escorted passenger aircraft, and investigators suspect a coordinated destabilization campaign.

(Staff: Belgium & Europe / Security & Aviation)

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On Thursday, November 5, 2026, Europe faced the third wave of bomb threats in a single week. This time, the impact was felt on a large scale, from Brussels to Bucharest, from Rome to Sofia. Over a dozen commercial flights were targeted by alerts that eventually proved to be false, but which triggered complex emergency procedures and sowed panic among passengers.

Belgium at the center of alerts

One of the incidents that directly targeted Belgium was the Lot Polish Airlines flight LO235, which was flying from Warsaw to Brussels. The aircraft landed safely at Brussels Airport after the crew was notified of a “possible security threat”. The Polish company confirmed that after the ground inspection, no suspicious or dangerous items were found on board.

The Belgian press also reported that another aircraft bound for Brussels was subjected to security checks; no major incident was reported. The Belgian authorities have not yet issued an official statement regarding the nature of these threats, but the incident is part of the broader pattern of the European wave.

Military escorts and emergency landings

In addition to Belgium, other countries were forced to mobilize considerable military resources. In Italy, a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome was escorted by Italian Air Force fighter jets to Fiumicino Airport, where teams of pyrotechnicians checked the aircraft. The result: no explosives found.

In France, an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to the Évreux military base in Normandy after the crew received a threat via air traffic control. The 151 passengers and six crew members were safely evacuated, and the defusing experts inspected the aircraft. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu confirmed that the situation is being monitored in real time.

In Bulgaria, three Ryanair flights to Sofia were targeted. Two of them, departing from Copenhagen and Madrid, landed as scheduled, while the third, departing from London Stansted, was diverted to Plovdiv. Bulgarian Air Force MiG-29 fighter jets took off to intercept and escort civilian aircraft.

Romania: Crisis Cell in Otopeni

In Romania, a Wizz Air flight from Milan to Henri Coandă Airport was the target of a bomb threat. The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) immediately activated a crisis-response cell, and the 182 passengers and seven crew members were disembarked and led into the terminal. Pyrotechnician teams checked the aircraft and the threat was not confirmed. Air traffic at the airport was carried out safely, without major disruptions.

Also, four flights that landed in Prague were targeted by similar threats, and the Czech police said the assessment of their relevance is “low”. All checks returned negative results.

A hybrid sabotage pattern

This series of alerts comes after two other similar waves in the same week. On Tuesday, at least seven flights were affected, and on Wednesday another wave targeted flights from Poland, Spain, Bulgaria and Italy. Security experts warn that these coordinated threats are part of a pattern of hybrid threats and sabotage intended to disrupt European infrastructure at minimal cost and sow insecurity among the population.

Marco Chan, an aviation expert at Kingston University, told the BBC that the threats are “most likely a hoax, but the system does well to treat them as real.” He added that the specialists view them as a possible part of an “inexpensive and deniable disruption pattern” affecting air transport.

Conclusion

Thursday’s wave of bomb threats did not cause casualties and did not lead to the discovery of any explosives, but demonstrated how vulnerable European air infrastructure is to simple calls or anonymous emails. From Brussels to Bucharest, from fighter jets scrambled to crisis-response cells activated at airports, the costs of these pranks are huge. And if the investigators are right and we are facing a coordinated campaign, then the real stake is not the security of a specific flight, but the trust of the citizens in the safety of travel. One thing is certain: Europe will have to find a way to respond quickly and effectively to these threats without letting the panic dictate the agenda.