At least 16 flights in Europe received bomb threats on Thursday, 5 November. Airports, police and airlines said France, Italy and Bulgaria sent up fighter jets, which escorted some of the passenger planes through their airspace. Over Bulgaria, military jets escorted three Ryanair flights to Sofia, and one of them was diverted to Plovdiv.

The new wave came two days after Tuesday, 3 November, when seven flights received threats suspected to be hoaxes. Checks found no explosives. Authorities are investigating.

The flights to Sofia are FR1730 from London Stansted, FR6410 from Madrid and FR3606 from Copenhagen.

Over France, fighter jets escorted an Aer Lingus plane, and flight EI402 from Dublin to Rome was diverted to a military base in France. Over Italy, the military escorted a Finnair plane. Wizz Air flight W46387 from Milan to Warsaw was diverted to Vienna. Finnair flight AY1761 from Helsinki to Rome also received a threat.

The confirmed list also includes Ryanair FR8953 from Porto to Milan, Wizz Air W43064 from Milan to Bucharest, Finnair AY1471 from Helsinki to Vienna, LOT Polish Airlines LO235 from Warsaw to Brussels and Aegean Airlines A3552 from Thessaloniki to Milan. Both Iberia flights to Madrid, Air Serbia JU102 from Belgrade to Bucharest, easyJet EZY5629 from Newcastle to Prague and EZY3179 from Glasgow to Prague were also affected.

After landing, bomb disposal teams checked all the planes. Some were diverted to other airports, and others were escorted by fighter jets.

Flights from Britain were also affected, from Stansted, Glasgow and Newcastle airports. London Heathrow and Birmingham airports received threats in the early hours of the day. Both cases have ended, but it is not clear how many flights were affected there.

One threat was emailed to the company that runs Rome's two airports. The anonymous message, written in Italian, threatens to "paint the sky red". It was sent supposedly in the name of "fighters of the male state" and targets a "feminist regime".

Prague airport received threats against four arriving flights in the morning. They followed an anonymous warning of possible explosions on board. The airport activated its security operations control centre, led by Czech police.

All four planes landed safely and were moved to remote stands, where police checked them. Work at the airport was not seriously disrupted.

"All passengers got off the planes safely and received their luggage after all the necessary security measures were taken," Prague airport said.

The airport declined to give details, and police are investigating. Czech police say two more flights arriving in Prague also received threats, probably Ryanair and Austrian Airlines.

Iberia said its planes IBE668 from Milan and IBE658 from Rome, both bound for Madrid, received threats in the morning. The alerts were sent to Madrid-Barajas airport and passed to the captains of both flights. The planes landed in Madrid at about 10am without incident, and passengers got off safely under security protocols.

"Both threats turned out to be false alarms," the airline said.

The threat against Air Serbia JU102 was reported to the authorities at Bucharest airport while the plane was in the air. It landed safely, and Romanian authorities took charge and checked it under security protocols. After the checks, they judged the threat groundless and the plane went back into regular service.

The EU transport commissioner says it is too early to say whether the incidents are linked.

Britain's Royal Air Force said its military jets are ready to respond to suspicious aircraft, identify them and, if needed, escort them. Quick reaction fighters take off within minutes of a potential threat. Sending them up does not necessarily mean a bomb has been found on board.

More flights are affected today than on Tuesday, when at least seven European flights received threats, two of them from Britain. The planes were diverted or escorted by fighter jets.

Four of those flights were heading to Prague, and the threat was about a planted home-made explosive device. Czech police rated its relevance as low, but bomb disposal experts checked all the planes after landing. No explosives were found on the four planes, and on Tuesday police said the operation at the airport was over and everyone was safe.

According to Václav Havel airport, Tuesday's threats were sent by anonymous email.