Aer Lingus flight EI402, en route from Dublin to Rome, touched down at Evreux airport in France approximately 100 kilometers west of Paris after receiving a security alert. The Irish carrier confirmed the precautionary landing in a statement, marking the latest in a series of disruptions that have paralyzed air traffic across the continent for the second time in a week.
Italian authorities intercepted a Finnair jet from Helsinki with Air Force fighter jets before it landed safely at Rome Fiumicino. Police searched the aircraft but found no explosives, airport authorities said. In Belgium, a LOT Polish Airlines flight diverted to Brussels Zaventem, where checks also came up empty. Meanwhile, Bulgarian airspace saw three separate emergency landings: two from Copenhagen and Madrid touched down in Sofia, while a London-bound plane landed in Plovdiv.
The threat level extended to the ground in Romania, where nearly 200 passengers evacuated a Wizz Air flight from Milan after it landed at Henri Coanda International Airport in Bucharest. Romanian security teams deployed an explosives disposal squad to inspect the aircraft. In Prague, Czech police reported threats against four incoming flights, classifying the risk as low but activating full inspection protocols for improvised explosive devices.
No government has claimed responsibility, but the timing has European security officials on edge. These incidents follow at least seven flight and one cruise ship threats on Tuesday, which also yielded no explosives. The pattern aligns with growing concerns over "hybrid attacks" and sabotage operations allegedly linked to Russia and Iran. This week, unidentified hackers also disrupted refrigeration systems in European supermarkets and French blood banks, causing dangerous temperature spikes in storage units.
Experts suggest these low-cost, hard-to-trace hoaxes are part of a broader strategy to sow chaos. European transport ministers are expected to convene for an emergency session later this week to coordinate a unified security response and share intelligence on the source of the threats.