An Austrian Airlines Airbus A320 operating flight 82 from Tel Aviv to Vienna made an emergency landing in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Sunday night following a reported bomb threat. According to the Bulgarian transport ministry, the crew decided to divert after receiving the alert while the aircraft was over Romanian airspace. The plane landed at Vasil Levski airport approximately three hours after its departure from Ben Gurion Airport, with passengers subsequently evacuated from the aircraft.
Khaleej Times reported that flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the aircraft, registered OE-LZE, entering Romanian airspace at around 9:10 pm before turning south toward Bulgaria. Another platform, ADS-B Exchange, indicated the plane was broadcasting a general emergency signal at roughly the same time. A MiG-29 fighter jet from the Bulgarian air force escorted the airliner, a move the transport ministry described as part of established procedures. MyJoyOnline noted that the landing occurred about 30 minutes after the alert was first raised.
Austrian Airlines confirmed the threat to the AFP news agency, stating that 51 passengers and six crew members were aboard the jet. A spokesperson for the airline said that once the security search of the aircraft was complete, passengers would be moved to other flights as soon as possible. The Bulgarian transport ministry added that a crisis response team had been set up and that relevant authorities launched an investigation into the incident. MyJoyOnline reported that no injuries had been reported at the time of the initial statement.
The incident follows a series of recent disruptions in European and Middle Eastern aviation. MyJoyOnline and Khaleej Times both noted that last week, Croatia and Germany scrambled fighter jets after a commercial flight from Corfu to Nuremberg accidentally sent out a hijacking alert. Additionally, both publications referenced a separate incident late last month involving a Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv, where a co-pilot attacked the captain before being overpowered by the crew and passengers. The BBC has sought further comment from Lufthansa, the parent company of Austrian Airlines, while Bulgarian and Israeli media reported that the specific bomb threat had been communicated to the crew.