Coordinated Bomb Hoax Campaign Targets European Broadcasters and Aviation Networks

A series of false bomb alerts caused further flight diversions across Europe on Friday, extending now to hit several media organisations, including broadcasters and newspapers.

British broadcaster Sky confirmed it was among the newsrooms that received a bomb threat. “We have carried out a security assessment and reported the matter to the relevant authorities,” a spokesperson said.

In Bulgaria, Nova TV and Ireland’s public broadcaster RTE received emailed threats purporting to be from “Mikhail Andropov”, labelled “Message to the West”, warning of more disruptions across Europe. RTE briefly evacuated staff, including radio and television presenters, in Dublin after an email arrived on Friday morning. RTE Radio One presenter David McCullagh later told listeners that the threat warned a bomb would explode within 45 minutes.

The Irish government reported that similar hoax bomb claims were also sent to Virgin Media, Newstalk radio and The Irish Independent. “However, these threats come on the heels of the ongoing disruption to aviation around Europe caused by similar threats, and it seems likely that this is a coordinated campaign of disruption,” it said in a statement.

These incidents followed a day in which hoax bomb threats disrupted more than two dozen flights across Europe on Thursday, adding to earlier alerts that had affected aircraft and a cruise ship.

On Friday, Hungarian Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin‑Szendi said jets escorted airliners flying from Brussels to Sofia and from Prague to Bucharest and Cyprus through Hungarian airspace because of bomb threats. NATO, he added, had ordered an air patrol near the Hungarian‑Romanian border, marking the alliance’s first involvement.

Danish police reported threats directed at Copenhagen Airport’s traffic, but said there was no danger to passengers and the airport operated normally. Czech police logged bomb threats to nine flights departing from or arriving in Prague; none were cancelled. French authorities said four new bomb threats were made to aircraft over French territory, all of which landed safely. A Ryanair flight from Rome also landed as scheduled in Lisbon, according . . .

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