An Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna made an emergency landing in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Sunday evening after an anonymous bomb threat, the third bomb threat against a flight to or from Israel in less than a week.
Flight OS82, operated by an Airbus A320, departed Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday evening and was cruising over Bulgaria when Austrian authorities received a telephone call from Vienna warning of a suspicious object on board, according to AIRLIVE. Haaretz reported that the airline was alerted to the threat by an Austrian national who was not on the flight. The crew declared a general emergency and landed safely in Sofia, where the aircraft was directed to an isolated stand. Bulgaria’s Defense Ministry said it scrambled MiG-29 fighter jets under NATO’s air policing mission to escort the plane to the ground.
All 51 passengers and six crew members were taken off the aircraft while security teams searched it, according to Bulgaria’s BNT state television. Ynet reported that among those on board was a delegation of young people scheduled to address the United Nations. Initial reports described the threat as a false alarm, and the flight was expected to continue on to Vienna later Sunday night. The Israel Air Force said the incident did not occur in or near Israeli airspace and that it was not involved.
Third Bomb Threat in a Week
Sunday’s diversion is the third bomb threat involving an Israel flight in less than a week. On Tuesday morning, Delta Flight 234 from New York landed at Ben Gurion and was moved to a remote area after an anonymous caller told New York police that a bomb had been planted on board. Passengers were evacuated and the aircraft was searched, and the Israel Airports Authority said the incident ended with no unusual findings. That evening, a second caller claimed a bomb was on the next Flight 234 departure from JFK to Tel Aviv, and the plane was held until US security authorities completed their inspections and Israeli security cleared it to depart, according to The Jerusalem Post. Kan News reported that police suspect the same person made both calls.
Heightened Alert After Flydubai Attack
The threats come less than three weeks after the September 30 attack on flydubai Flight 1073, when an Omani copilot assaulted the captain and tried to crash the Tel Aviv-bound plane before the captain and several passengers subdued him. After the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a review of aviation security procedures, with particular attention to foreign airline crews flying into Israel. On Monday, Israeli authorities ordered an Ethiopian Airlines flight bound for Israel to stay out of Israeli airspace after discovering that one of its pilots was an Indonesian national.
Delta resumed its daily nonstop service between New York and Tel Aviv in September after a suspension of more than six months during the war with Iran. Austrian Airlines operates multiple weekly flights between Vienna and Tel Aviv.
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