Alpine winter braces as European flight chaos spreads

More than 30 commercial flights across Europe have been subjected to bomb threats or security alerts since Thursday, according to the Guardian and Deutsche Welle. An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Rome was diverted to a French airbase; flights bound for Warsaw, Madrid, Sofia and Rome followed. The threats, claimed to originate from a far-right Russian group calling itself 'fighters of the Male State', have produced no explosives but have left European aviation security strained and travellers frustrated, the New York Times reported.

The hoaxes have forced military escorts and emergency landings. Deutsche Welle noted that the threats involved flights to multiple European capitals, suggesting a coordinated campaign rather than isolated incidents. The EU transport commissioner said it was 'too early' to confirm whether all threats were linked, according to the Guardian's live coverage.