Bomb threats are still causing an uproar involving a number of airlines, per The Guardian. "A fresh wave of bomb threats disrupted air traffic across Europe on Friday but the affected aircraft landed safely and searches revealed no explosive devices."
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The outlet specified this. "The latest alerts affected at least 18 flights to or from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania and the UK."
Another wave of aviation threats took place on November 3 and 5. Almost three dozen flights were "diverted or searched." That has led some to wonder if this is all part of a carefully-orchestrated strategy designed to instigate mayhem and worry for passengers and airlines.
Chaos and Worry Have Ensued
The chaos and fear that all these threats have sparked cannot be underestimated, per People. There have reportedly been evacuations and emergency landings necessitated. In fact, out of an abundance of caution, fighter jets have occasionally been deployed as escorts for passenger flights. That is being done as a safety measure. In fact, Hungary resorted to employing fighter jets three times to accompany civilian flights, per The Guardian.
Thus far, authorities have allegedly not uncovered any links between the outbreak of aviation threats and known terrorist groups or nations such as Iran and Russia. Nevertheless, the matter is still being actively looked into.
Authorities Are Standing Firm
Those in charge of security and safety are not knuckling under to whoever is issuing these threats. No one is dismissing or minimizing the potential danger at all. But they are also not being scared off by the as-yet-unknown culprits. "We have established processes for dealing with hoax and malicious threats, and that's what these threats have been," declared Heidi Alexander, British transport secretary, to Sky News via NBC News.
Someone speaking on behalf of Finnair, an affected airline, per NBC News put the uncomfortable situation in perspective. "Unfortunately, air traffic is sometimes subject to threats, as we have seen this week, when other airlines in Europe have also faced hoax bomb threats. Threats are almost always unfounded." That was the opinion of Finnair spokesperson Stiina Tuunanen, who expressed it via email.
