An Austrian Airlines flight travelling from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Vienna, Austria, was forced to divert to Bulgaria after a bomb threat was reported on board.
The aircraft landed in Sofia, Bulgaria, late on Sunday, October 18, 2026, where security officials searched the plane, passengers and crew. No dangerous items were found, allowing the flight to continue its journey to Vienna.
According to Reuters, the airline confirmed the incident in a statement on Monday, saying the threat made it necessary for flight OS82 to make an unscheduled landing in Sofia.
“During the search of the affected aircraft, the passengers, and the crew, no danger was identified,” the airline said.
It added that all passengers reboarded the aircraft before it departed for Vienna.
Austrian Airlines said the aircraft was carrying 51 passengers and six crew members when the incident occurred.
The flight-tracking website Flightradar24 identified the aircraft as an Airbus A320-200. The aircraft type can accommodate up to 180 passengers, according to Austrian Airlines’ website.
Bulgaria’s BTA news agency reported that the crew received the bomb threat as the aircraft approached the Romanian border.
The Bulgarian Air Force subsequently scrambled MiG-29 fighter jets.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the threat was allegedly made by an Austrian national who was not on board the aircraft.
However, the report did not identify the source of the information, and this detail was not independently confirmed.
Austrian Airlines confirmed that the threat was reported on October 18 and that the aircraft had to make an intermediate landing in Sofia.
The incident prompted a security search before authorities gave the flight the all-clear.
Vienna Airport, Austria’s Interior Ministry and Lufthansa Group, the parent company of Austrian Airlines, had not responded to requests for comment at the time of the Reuters report.
The Austrian and Bulgarian interior ministers were also scheduled to hold a previously arranged press conference in Vienna at 11 a.m. local time on Monday.
The diversion occurred less than three weeks after a separate incident involving a flydubai aircraft travelling to Israel.
DDM reports that a co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain with an axe during a September 30 flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
The United Arab Emirates’ attorney general said last week that the Omani co-pilot had allegedly planned to seize control of the aircraft and crash it into a terminal at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in a suicide attack.
According to the attorney general, the captain thwarted the alleged attempt.
The two incidents involved separate aircraft and circumstances.
Reuters
