All clear given after bomb threat diverts Austrian Airlines flight from Israel to Bulgaria 

• A bomb threat forced Austrian Airlines flight OS82 from Tel Aviv to divert to Sofia with 57 people on board, according to the airline and Bulgaria’s BTA news agency.
• A search of the aircraft, passengers and crew found no danger, and the flight later continued to Vienna after everyone reboarded.
• Bulgaria scrambled MiG-29 jets, and the scare came after a recent flydubai incident linked to an alleged suicide attack plan on an Israel-bound flight.

A bomb threat forced an Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv carrying 57 people to divert to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, late on Oct 18, though a search found no danger, the airline and Bulgaria’s BTA news agency said.

“We confirm that there was a threat against flight OS82 on October 18, 2026, from Tel Aviv to Vienna (TLV to VIE), which made it necessary for the flight to make an intermediate landing in Sofia (SOF),” the airline said in a statement on Oct 19.

“During the search of the affected aircraft, the passengers, and the crew, no danger was identified,” it said, adding that the flight continued from Sofia to Vienna with all passengers after reboarding.

Bulgaria’s BTA news agency said the Vienna-bound flight’s crew reported receiving a bomb threat when the aircraft was approaching the Romanian border, and the Bulgarian Air Force scrambled MiG-29 fighter jets.

The Lufthansa Group, which owns Austrian Airlines, Vienna Airport and the Austrian interior ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

The incident came less than three weeks after a co-pilot on an Israel-bound flydubai jet allegedly attacked the captain with an axe in an attempt to crash the plane.

The UAE attorney general said last week that an Omani flydubai co-pilot had intended to seize the September 30 Dubai-Tel Aviv flight and crash it into a terminal at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in a suicide attack, before he was thwarted by the captain. REUTERS