An Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna made an emergency landing in Sofia on Sunday after the crew received a bomb threat mid-flight.
The aircraft, an Airbus A320 carrying 51 passengers and six crew members, was nearing Romanian airspace around 9:10pm when the threat came through. The crew immediately changed course and headed for Bulgaria’s capital.
Bulgarian authorities scrambled a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort the plane to Sofia airport as part of standard security procedures, the country’s transport ministry confirmed.
The aircraft landed safely about half an hour after receiving the threat. Airport staff evacuated everyone on board while security teams launched a thorough search of the plane.
Austrian Airlines told AFP it would rebook passengers onto alternative flights once authorities complete their inspection of the aircraft.
Flight tracking data from ADS-B Exchange shows the plane transmitted squawk code 7700 – the international signal for a general emergency – around the time it turned toward Bulgaria.
Bulgaria’s transport ministry set up a crisis response team and authorities opened an investigation into the incident.
The scare follows other recent aviation security incidents in the region. Last month, a co-pilot on a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv attacked the captain and reportedly tried to crash the plane. The captain, passengers and crew stopped him.
Last week, Croatia and Germany both sent fighter jets to intercept a commercial flight from Corfu to Nuremberg after the aircraft accidentally transmitted a hijacking alert.
