Why a wave of bomb threats is so difficult for Europe to contain

A spate of bomb threats against passenger flights has forced diversions, emergency landings and military escorts across European airspace this week, stoking fear among passengers and heaping pressure on airlines.

Authorities have described the more than two dozen threats as malicious hoaxes, and no actual attacks have been carried out. But the incidents have highlighted the huge impact that even false claims can have on a tightly scheduled aviation network.

“This is really quite exceptional, I’ve never seen this before in my whole career,” Wilfried Covent, head of security firm Covent Consulting with a specialization in aviation, told CNBC by phone.

“We’ve had bomb threats in flights and towards airports, but usually maybe a single copycat, one or two max. What we see now is a systematic attack on airlines and airports.”

An email sent to European broadcasters on Friday claimed to be from the leader of the group behind the plane hoaxes and also said bombs had been placed in their buildings, prompting evacuations. No bombs were found at the sites.

“What happened this week is just a small part of what awaits Europe in the near future,” the message said, according to Reuters.

The news agency said it could not verify the sender’s identity, where the emails originated or whether they were linked to the threats against flights.

Covent said the “criminals” — who many security analysts say are likely to be state-backed actors working in coordination to disrupt public life for Europeans, but have not been identified — were well aware that the “weakest point of aviation is targeting it in-flight.”

“With a threat on an airport or a general threat to aircraft, you can assess the situation without fully disrupting operations. When the threat is called on a specific flight number that is in the air, even with a hoax, that triggers international regulations which ensure you don’t ignore it — it means a quick landing, evacuation and searches by specialist forces,” he told CNBC.

“For the context of an assessment, you cannot say that 20 times before it has been a hoax so this time it is a hoax, the safety of passengers and crew is priority number one. The criminals know that.”