Ensuring the security of civil aviation is one of the major priorities of public international law. Terrorist attacks are one of the main threats to the complex process of ensuring the security of civilian air navigation. The causes and effects of these illegal actions are one of the issues discussed in this article. We also aim to analyze the specific characteristics of terrorist acts and their classification in order to highlight their evolution and the impact on the security of civil air navigation. The evolution of legal regulations on preventing and combating the effects of terrorist acts and the relationship between international legal regulations and the national regulatory framework of the Republic of Moldova are the topics to be analyzed in this research.