On Monday, a Wizz Air flight traveling from London to Bulgaria was diverted after a bomb threat was received mid-flight, making an emergency landing in Budapest. At least seven passenger flights were targeted the following day, which led to emergency landings, searches, and diversions. More than two dozen additional flights were targeted Thursday, and threats continued into Friday.
An infographic created based on available information as of Nov. 5, 2026. —Omar Zaghloul—Anadolu via Getty Images
Authorities, including the U.K. Transport Secretary, have since described them as “hoaxes,” as no attacks were carried out and each affected flight was landed safely. But the hoaxes were not harmless; they affected thousands of people’s flight plans, struck fear into potential travelers, and impacted the carefully structured aviation ecosystem.
“What happened this week is just a small part of what awaits Europe in the near future,” the message sent to broadcasters said, according to Reuters.
Ireland’s government, meanwhile, said Friday that “it seems likely that this is a co-ordinated campaign of disruption.”
Could the bomb threats be hybrid warfare?
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told Spanish broadcast news on Friday that the threats were an “attempt at hybrid aggression and psychological warfare.”
For example, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told an Italian news station on Friday that “what’s being attacked is civilian infrastructure,” rather than military or weapons infrastructure. This puts European nations in a tight spot, Braw says, especially if the actor is another nation.
Read more: What Does the Iran War Mean for the Threat of Attacks in the U.S.? Here’s What Experts Say
“What is concerning this time is it's such a significant number, and the fact that these have come in such close succession, and it comes against the background of all these other attacks and really geopolitically motivated crimes targeting European countries,” Braw adds, referencing another destabilization operation that recently hit Europe.
Two pro-Russian hacktivist groups claimed responsibility for the cyberattack campaign on supermarkets Wednesday, though their involvement remains unconfirmed.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov distanced the Russian government from the cyberattacks on Thursday, calling any allegations “absurd” and “unfounded.”
“Certainly there are well-founded instances of Russian and Iranian groups recruiting people online using secure communications applications to conduct similar activity,” he says.
Before the parties responsible can be ascertained, or their motives investigated, security personnel must identify where these threats are originating from, he says.
“You have to take every threat seriously in the sector, but especially in aviation, where the consequences would be so utterly devastating if an incident were successful, and so that's why we have seen all these airliners making emergency landings,” she says. “All of that causes disruption and it causes anxiety among passengers, and it also causes significant financial costs and losses for the airlines.”
Some of the emails were signed "fighters of the Male State," which matches the name of a radical misogynist group in Russia, though there has been no confirmed link, according to AFP. The group's founder, Vladislav Pozdniakov, denied any involvement, saying on social media Friday that the "movement does not exist since 2021."
Even after learning who made the bomb threats, European nations might not be any closer to knowing how to respond to similar hybrid attacks in the future, Braw says.
The dilemma is becoming more and more “acute,” she adds, as the threats accelerate and grow more sophisticated.
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