A bomb threat forced an Austrian Airlines flight carrying 57 people from Tel Aviv to divert to the Bulgarian capital of Sofia late on Sunday, though subsequent security checks determined there was no danger, according to the airline and the Bulgarian BTA news agency.
Austrian Airlines confirmed that flight OS82, traveling from Tel Aviv to Vienna, received a threat that necessitated an unscheduled intermediate landing in Sofia. During the search of the aircraft, passengers, and crew, authorities identified no threat, and the flight later reboarded all passengers and continued on its journey to Vienna.
According to Bulgaria's BTA news agency, the crew of the Vienna-bound aircraft reported receiving the bomb threat as the plane approached the Romanian border. In response to the alert, the Bulgarian Air Force scrambled MiG-29 fighter jets to intercept and escort the aircraft.
Representatives for the Lufthansa Group, which owns Austrian Airlines, as well as Vienna Airport and the Austrian interior ministry, did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the incident.
The security scare follows other recent aviation incidents in the region, arriving less than three weeks after an attempted cockpit attack on an Israel-bound flydubai jet. Authorities previously reported that a co-pilot attempted to seize control of a September flight to crash it into a terminal at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport before being stopped by the captain.