Helsinki passengers stay calm as bomb threats disrupt European flights

Dozens of false bomb threats have targeted flights across Europe this week, causing disruption, while passengers at Helsinki Airport remained calm on Friday, Yle reported.

The threats have led to aircraft being evacuated, fighter jets escorting passenger planes and flights landing early in cities other than their intended destinations. Further threats were reported on Friday, but none involved Finnair flights.

Estonian passenger Natali Kutsok, travelling to New York for work, said the news made her slightly anxious. “It is quite frightening that we live in a time when there are repeated bomb threats and you cannot know what will happen next,” she said.

Lasse Pasanen, from Imatra, was travelling to Poland to watch a football match. The threats had made him think about hybrid influence operations, he said, but would not stop him going. “If we let fear take over, society will come to a complete stop.”

Sofia Rots, travelling to Paris for a tennis tournament, said she was not worried because she trusted security checks at Helsinki Airport.

Jukka Hannola, aviation director at Finland’s Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom, said every threat is taken seriously. He said airlines and authorities cannot relax security procedures, even though bomb threats can easily disrupt airline operations.

Hannola said the threats inevitably cause delays and missed connecting flights. He added that only a few cases in aviation history involved a genuine intention to harm an aircraft, and those date back decades.