On Tuesday, 3 November, a series of false bomb alerts on planes occurred across Europe, including two in Poland: on a LOT flight from London that landed in Modlin, and on an SAS plane from Copenhagen at Warsaw Chopin Airport. As Polsat News reports, no threat was confirmed.
According to information from Modlin Airport, cited among others by WP and Miejski Reporter, the alert was raised at 9:54. It concerned a Polish Airlines LOT Boeing 737 MAX operating flight LO286 from London Heathrow to Warsaw Chopin Airport. The aircraft landed in Modlin at 10:01. There were 181 people on board, and the plane had about 3.7 tonnes of fuel.
Modlin: airport closed for two hours
The Modlin airport was closed for the duration of the operation. Passengers left the aircraft at around 10:52 and waited in the arrivals hall. Border Guard bomb disposal technicians checked the aircraft and luggage. As WP reports, the airport resumed operations after about two hours. The airport director, Jacek Kowalski, said, as quoted by Polsat News: „Since we have opened the airport, it means they found nothing.”
Warsaw Chopin Airport: inspection of the SAS plane
Much earlier, activities were under way at Warsaw Okęcie related to SAS flight SK751 from Copenhagen. The airline confirmed that the threat concerned this flight and said it was applying security procedures. As the acting spokesperson of Warsaw Chopin Airport, Piotr Rudzki, said, one runway was closed, while other operations proceeded according to schedule. According to Polsat News, the operation ended at around 12:30. The LOT aircraft was diverted to Modlin because Okęcie was already occupied by the inspection of the SAS plane.
Bulgaria, Italy and earlier incidents
As Polsat News reports, a plane flying from Israel landed in Sofia on Tuesday after a report of an explosive device. Bulgarian Deputy Interior Minister Lubomir Nikolov said the aircraft was being checked by an anti-terrorist unit and that services had no information about a specific threat. He added that in similar cases, traces led to IP addresses outside Bulgaria.
In Italy, two Ryanair planes flying from Portugal and Ireland landed at Rome Fiumicino escorted by fighter jets. Bomb disposal experts did not confirm a threat. The day before, a Wizz Air plane from London to Sofia was diverted to Budapest and escorted by a Hungarian Gripen. The travel portal of „Rzeczpospolita,” citing the Times of Israel, also writes that over 1,500 people were stranded at the port on the Greek island of Syros after a cruise ship bound for Israel was stopped due to a bomb alert.
Biznesinfo.pl writes about a possible link between the two reports in Poland, but does not provide official confirmation. No one has been detained so far, and the perpetrators of the alerts are unknown.
What it means for passengers
The impact in Poland was limited: one runway at Warsaw Chopin Airport was closed for several hours, and Modlin was closed for about two hours. The disruption mainly affected passengers on both flights. Passengers with planned flights from Warsaw should check the flight status on the airport’s website or with their airline. A false bomb report is a crime in Poland, punishable by up to 8 years in prison (Article 224a of the Criminal Code).
As of publication, it has not been reported who is behind the reports or whether the authorities will treat them as a coordinated action.
