Seven European flights searched after suspected bomb threats

Seven passenger planes across Europe were inspected after a series of suspected bomb threats on Tuesday 3 November 2026, including two Ryanair flights that landed in Rome and two flights bound for Warsaw. No explosives were found on the aircraft that were searched, authorities said.

Which flights were searched in Rome?

Two Ryanair flights, one from Dublin and one from Lisbon, were searched after landing at Rome’s Fiumicino airport, sources there told the BBC. The Dublin flight was escorted by the Italian Air Force until it landed. Police bomb disposal experts carried out standard security protocols, and inspections of passengers, luggage and the aircraft produced negative results, with the alert since cleared.

Where else in Europe were planes checked?

Authorities also searched aircraft in Poland, Spain and Bulgaria. A Ryanair flight from Manchester that landed at Murcia in southern Spain was found to have no explosives on board, Spanish authorities said. Two flights bound for Warsaw were affected, including one from London Heathrow that was diverted to the smaller Modlin airport, briefly forcing its closure. A Scandinavian Airlines flight from Copenhagen landed at Warsaw-Chopin as planned.

Sarah, a passenger on the Murcia flight, told BBC Radio 5 Live that those on board were told nothing during the flight and were kept on the runway for about 30 minutes before fire engines and a bomb squad arrived. “We were only later told that it was an actual threat, a bomb threat to the plane itself,” she said.

What did Bulgarian officials say?

Bulgarian Transport Minister Georgi Peev said two flights bound for Sofia, from Bergamo in northern Italy and from Dublin, were subject to bomb threats. Neither was diverted and no explosives were found when the planes were checked, he told the state-owned Bulgarian News Agency. Border police said they received an email at about 10:35 local time (08:35 GMT) warning of “the presence of an improvised explosive device on a flight returning from Bergamo”, and that the same email reported a similar threat to aircraft arriving from Dublin.

Were the threats coordinated?

Officially there is no link between the incidents, but authorities in several countries will cooperate to assess whether they were a coordinated attempt to disrupt airspace. The UK government described them as “malicious hoax threats”.

How unusual are bomb threats on airliners?

Aviation security expert Paul Mason told BBC Radio 5 Live that bomb threats on passenger planes “don’t happen that frequently”, which made the latest incidents unusual. “It sounds like they’ve been made in a credible manner across a broad range of airlines,” he said, suggesting “a very deliberate act by a typical actor rather than a load of coincidental, malicious calls”.

What happens on board when a threat is received?

Marco Chan, a former pilot for Cathay Pacific Airways and Hong Kong Airlines who now lectures in aviation operations at Kingston University, told BBC Verify that a bomb threat is treated as “genuine until it is resolved, even though most turn out to be hoaxes”. Crews quietly search toilets, galleys and storage areas, he said, and do not touch a suspicious item unless it has to be moved to an area designated as the least risky location on the aircraft.

What other alerts were reported?

In Greece, a bomb alert led to the evacuation of 1,537 passengers and crew from the Panama-flagged Crown Iris, docked at a port on the Aegean island of Syros, according to media reports in both countries citing the Greek Coast Guard. Initial checks found no explosives and the ship was due to resume its journey. The aircraft incidents came a day after a bomb threat forced a Wizz Air flight from London Luton to make an emergency landing in Budapest, escorted by a Hungarian fighter jet; Wizz Air said security checks found nothing.

Frequently asked questions

Were the bomb threats on European flights coordinated?

Officially there is no established link between the incidents, but authorities in several countries said they would cooperate to assess whether they were a coordinated attempt to disrupt airspace.

Was anything found on the planes?

No. Searches in Rome, Murcia and Sofia found no explosives, and officials said checks produced negative results and the alerts were cleared.

How many flights were affected and which left the UK?

Seven passenger planes were inspected. Two of them departed from the UK: a Ryanair flight from Manchester to Murcia and a flight from London Heathrow to Warsaw that was diverted to Modlin.

What did the UK government say about the threats?

The UK government described the incidents as “malicious hoax threats”.

With reporting from BBC News.

Stock image, not from the events described. Globe World — Jo%E3o%20Silas / Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)