ROME/WARSAW/EVREUX, France, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Hoax bomb threats disrupted at least 27 passenger flights across Europe on Thursday, forcing unplanned landings by some planes and prompting fighter jets to escort or intercept others, in the second such wave this week.
No country has attributed blame for the threats, which come as many European officials are accusing Russia of masterminding sabotage and "hybrid attacks", often cheap, easily deniable and not expected to trigger an armed response.
At least
seven flights and a cruise ship also received hoax threats on Tuesday.
Denmark, Poland and Romania, all affected by Thursday's disruptions, have previously accused Moscow directly of being behind hybrid attacks, while Germany blamed Russia for an August attack on Leipzig airport. Britain, which has in the past blamed Russia, linked Iran to a suspected plot against a US air base.
Both Russia and Iran deny any involvement.
Eric Schouten, head of aviation security group Dyami, said most of the countries affected supported Ukraine in its war against Russia's invasion.
While analysts at aviation risk advisory firm Osprey Flight Solutions said a link to Russia's hybrid campaign in Europe was a "realistic probability," they also cautioned that other explanations, including individuals acting on personal grievances and copycat incidents, were also possible.
An airport source in Italy told Reuters that an email with the subject line "Threat report" had been sent to several addresses for airlines, airport operators and airport service providers at Rome's Fiumicino and Milan's Malpensa airports.
The email, which claimed it was from "fighters of the Male State", said devices had been placed on inbound flights from Helsinki and Dublin and they would explode in 60 minutes.
Reuters could not independently confirm who had sent the email and there was no immediate indication of who was behind the other threats across Europe.
FLIGHTS TO MILAN, ROME, PARIS, PRAGUE, SOFIA AFFECTED
In France, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's office said he had sent fighter jets to intercept an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome and escort it to an air force base at Evreux after the pilot did not cooperate with authorities as expected.
Lecornu's office gave no reason for the pilot's behaviour.
Bulgaria's air force said its fighter jets had escorted three airliners to the ground. One Ryanair flight from London to Sofia was diverted to Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second city.
Spanish police said three emailed threats came in within 20 minutes involving two Air Europa departures from Madrid to Paris and four inbound Iberia flights from Rome and Milan. Several aircraft were halted or returned to their stands in Madrid and passengers disembarked as the aircraft were inspected.
In Warsaw, a LOT flight to Paris was stopped as it taxied towards take-off and passengers were transferred to another plane, while Danish police said two planes were searched at Copenhagen airport.
Other flights that received threats, including EasyJet, Finnair, LOT, Wizz Air, Ryanair and Air Serbia services to Prague, Sofia, Vienna, Brussels, Bucharest, Rome and Milan, landed as scheduled, some after military escorts.
Elena Pala, a passenger on a Wizz Air flight from Milan, described what happened when the plane landed in Bucharest, Romania.
"First, they took us a long way from the terminal ... far away on the runway. The plane was surrounded by fire trucks, ambulances and anti-terrorist units," she told Digi TV.
"I asked what was happening. They said it was an emergency issue. That is all they said," Pala added.
Joji Waites, director of flight safety for the British Airline Pilots’ Association, said airlines did not act on threats unless they had been rated credible by assessors.
Departing passengers were philosophical.
"We still have to get around. So, well, we just have to deal with it as best we can," said Spaniard Lucia Parga.
Another traveller, Gabriele Franzese, added: "You can't worry too much about every piece of news. If the plane crashes, so be it. If it's meant to happen, it'll happen anyway."
CYBERATTACKS ON SUPERMARKETS AND BLOOD BANKS
Eliran Almog, CEO of aviation cybersecurity firm Cyviation, said the hoaxes could serve both to disrupt operations and to observe how airlines, airports and authorities respond.
"These aviation threats are also occurring in the same period as cyberattacks on supermarket refrigeration systems across Europe," Almog said.
"Different essential services are experiencing disruption that carries economic costs and can undermine public confidence."
This week, unidentified hackers for the second time shut down fridges in supermarkets in several European countries, also affecting French blood banks.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Additional reporting by Matteo Negri and Gabriele Pileri in Rome; Writing by Kevin Liffey and Alexander Smith; Editing by Gareth Jones, Philippa Fletcher and Xevi Fontdegloria)
