An Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna was forced to make an emergency landing in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Sunday evening after a crew member reported a bomb threat. The aircraft, an Airbus A320, was escorted by an air force fighter jet until it landed safely.
Incident Details
According to Bulgarian state television, the transportation ministry reported that a crew member received the threat. The flight carried 51 passengers and six crew members, as stated in a BTN report.
The broadcaster said the incident is under investigation. The airline was not identified in the report.
Military Response
Bulgaria's defence ministry confirmed that fighter jets were scrambled in response to the threat. The plane was diverted to Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, where it landed without further incident.
Recent Similar Incident
The emergency landing comes just weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a pilot attempted to crash an aircraft carrying dozens of Israelis on September 30. That incident involved a Boeing 737 MAX 8 operating as FlyDubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, carrying more than 150 passengers. The plane issued the emergency squawk code 7500 while flying over Saudi Arabia, about two-and-a-half hours into the journey.
Netanyahu stated that Saudi Arabia had arrested the pilot, an Indian national named Captain Smit Machchhar, who was stabbed in the cockpit. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X, praising the pilot's courage and resolve, saying his valor helped save hundreds of lives. FlyDubai subsequently suspended its flights to and from Israel while the investigation into that incident continues.
