SVT: 123,000 flights had problems due to GPS failure, source of interference in Russia

In the first four months, nearly 123,000 flights experienced problems due to interference with GPS and other satellite systems over Europe. This is stated in a joint report by six countries to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which was reviewed by the Swedish TV channel SVT.

Experts from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland emphasize that the situation indicates a growing threat to the safety of flights over Europe.

Between January and April 2025, a total of 122,607 flights of 365 airlines were disrupted. In some areas of the airspace, more than 40% of all flights encountered navigation obstacles.

The disruption affected the airspace over Poland, the Baltic States, Finland and Sweden. The effects can be felt even after the planes leave the area, the report says.

In addition, the number of flights that experienced navigation failures increased every month: 23,438 flights in January, 28,010 in February, 29,877 in March, and 41,282 in April.

The document describes the cases of spoofing (substitution of navigation data) and jamming (jamming of signals) directed against satellite navigation systems in the airspace of the Baltic States.

Authorities have determined that the sources of the signals are located in Russia – in Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Smolensk and Rostov. European aviation authorities issued a warning to pilots and urged airlines to increase security measures.

Russia's actions violate the provisions of the Chicago Convention, the report says. The issue will be discussed at the ICAO General Assembly this fall.

The ICAO Council had previously expressed serious concern and asked Russia to stop interfering, reported The Swedish Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen). However, despite this, the situation has only worsened.

Disruptions pose a threat to civil aviation, although pilots have alternative methods of navigation. Interference affects not only aircraft but also ships.

In Sweden, violations began to increase in late 2023, and their intensity has increased significantly over the past year.

"Recently, the interference has increased both geographically and in scale. Now they occur over a much larger area, both over water and land within Sweden," said Andreas Holmgren, Head of Transportstyrelsen.

• august 31, 2025, a plane with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen forced to land at the airport in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv due to a GPS malfunction. FT sources said that the incident is being considered as an operation of Russian interference.
• on September 2, NATO Secretary General Rutte said that the Alliance "very seriously" perceives this incident. However, Bulgaria stated that there are no grounds for its investigation. The Prime Minister called the incident a side effect of the Russian-Ukrainian war.