Warsaw Modlin diversion
A LOT Boeing 737 MAX flying from London Heathrow with 181 people on board was due to land at Warsaw Chopin on Tuesday, 3 November, when a bomb alarm was raised at 9:54 local time, according to El País. The aircraft landed instead at Warsaw Modlin at 10:01, and the airport was closed. Modlin lies outside the capital and is mostly used by budget airlines. Bomb disposal experts inspected the aircraft and passengers' luggage after it touched down.
The Modlin airport spokesman, Adam Szabłowski, described the outcome:
The passengers were evacuated and the plane underwent security checks. Nothing was found.
Modlin later reopened, although El País reported that some areas stayed closed while the aircraft was reviewed.
Warsaw Chopin and the SAS flight
A SAS flight from Copenhagen to Warsaw, flight SK751, landed at Chopin, where it was also checked after a threat. Piotr Rudzki, the airport spokesman, said one runway was closed while the rest of the airport kept working. Checks ended around 12:20 local time and normal operation resumed, he said. SAS said the aircraft landed safely and passengers had disembarked. Polish authorities said the threat had not been confirmed, and it was not immediately clear whether the threats were linked.
Diversions in Spain, Italy and Bulgaria
A Ryanair flight from Manchester carrying 114 passengers landed in Murcia after a threat, and Francisco Lucas, the Spanish government delegate in the region, said on X that no explosives were found. A flight from Israel landed in Sofia after an email threat, according to Reuters citing local press, and counter-terrorism units checked the aircraft. Le Soir gave a different origin for the Sofia flight, Bergamo. In Rome, two Ryanair flights, one from Lisbon and one from Dublin, were searched at Fiumicino. The Dublin aircraft was escorted by the Italian Air Force, and routine checks confirmed no threat. Outlets gave tallies from four to seven affected aircraft, depending on which flights they counted.
Earlier threats on 1 and 2 November
On Sunday, 1 November, an Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna was diverted to Bulgaria, and no explosives were found on board. On Monday, 2 November, a Wizz Air flight from London Luton to Sofia received a bomb threat during the flight and was diverted to Budapest, where Hungarian fighter jets escorted it in. Hungarian defence minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi described the diversion in a Facebook post.
- Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna diverted to Bulgaria; no explosives found on board
- Wizz Air flight from London Luton to Sofia diverted to Budapest after a bomb threat
- Bomb alarm raised on LOT flight from Heathrow bound for Warsaw Chopin
- LOT flight lands at Warsaw Modlin; airport closed
- Checks end on SAS flight at Warsaw Chopin; airport resumes normal operation
Background and attribution
No group has claimed responsibility for the threats. The incidents come as concern grows in Europe about hybrid threats to infrastructure since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement in sabotage or hybrid operations and has not commented on Tuesday's incidents in Poland. In August, an explosive-laden drone was found near a Ukrainian plane at Leipzig/Halle airport in eastern Germany, prompting a counterterrorism investigation and the suspension of flights.