Bomb risk flight chaos defined – why it retains occurring and is Putin responsible

Holidaymakers have been plunged into mid-air chaos this week after a barrage of bomb threats and hoaxes triggered emergency diversions across Europe. The disruption began earlier this week when seven flights departing the UK and other countries were grounded or rerouted on Tuesday amid sudden security alerts.

By Thursday morning, the panic escalated sharply when 12 passenger airliners were targeted at 30,000 feet. In the most dramatic scare, an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome was intercepted mid-air by a French fighter jet and forced to land at a military airbase.

Meanwhile, three Ryanair services and several other flights heading into Prague, Rome, Vienna and Brussels were all hit with emergency alerts.

With thousands of passengers caught up in the disruption, furious travellers are demanding answers to why this keeps happening and whether Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin could be pulling the strings.

Why does it keep happening?

Phoney alerts plague the aviation industry constantly, but the sheer scale of this week’s chaos is rare.

Carriers follow rigid protocols whenever a warning arrives. In Britain, flights must submit a mandatory occurrence report straight to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Most threats turn out to be pranks, but air-traffic crews cannot afford to gamble with passenger lives.

Philip Baum, visiting professor of aviation security at Coventry University, told The Guardian: “Most are from individuals who think it is funny or want to delay a flight for some reason. If the industry was to respond to every unsubstantiated threat, flights would grind to a halt.

“The reality is that terrorist organisations who might like to smuggle a bomb on to a flight don’t tell people, they claim responsibility after the attacks.”

However, when planes are forced to make sudden emergency landings, Baum noted it would “imply that the threats are credible and specific in nature, and therefore one has to respond accordingly.”

A UK Government spokesperson moved to reassure shaken jet-setters, saying on Tuesday: “The UK has one of the most robust aviation security systems in the world, with well-tested processes for dealing with any potential threats, as well as malicious hoax threats, like those we’ve seen today.”

“Our world-leading police and intelligence agencies work closely every day to keep us safe, using the tools they have to assess and respond to potential threats.”

Is Putin to blame?

While Moscow has denied any dirty tricks, security experts suspect the Kremlin is waging a “hybrid warfare” campaign to sow panic across Western transport hubs.

They believe hostile foreign powers are increasingly turning to online-hired stooges to spark disruption.

Eric Schouten, an aviation security expert from Dyami and former Dutch intelligence liaison officer, told The i Paper that the wave of warnings matches Russian destabilisation tactics.

He said: “If you look at the modus operandi and disruption, this does fit in with how state actors like Russia work at the moment.

“Calling up the disposable agents basically and saying, hey, let’s disrupt aviation and can you make fake calls. You get 50 euros or 100 euros, and they don’t even know that they’re doing it for Russia.”

Schouten also issued a chilling warning about escalating shadow-war operations, telling the publication it is only “a matter of when” civilians are killed.

“If you start sabotaging railway systems, airport systems, food systems, medical systems, people will die,” he said.

Professor Anthony Glees, a security expert at Buckingham University, also pointed the finger directly at Moscow.

Glees reckons Putin’s military intelligence service, the GRU, uses hired hands “whose existence the Russians can claim they have no knowledge.”